Whatever It Takes
by The Soulless Author
Summary: Sequel to I Hope They Remember You. The worlds continue to reel from the staggering loss of lives, and it has upset the balance of the Light and the Dark. As a new danger looms throughout the cosmos, Kairi must now take up Sora's Keyblade and find a way to not only undo the damage of Thanos, but also bring back her friends.
1. Prologue

_**A/N: The time is nearly upon us folks. We are nearing the endgame. After being apart of a cinematic universe for over a decade, everything has finally led up to this moment. **_

_**An era comes to an end. And a new one will begin.**_

_**Does sound kind of familiar, does it?**_

_**It's pretty much no coincidence that Kingdom Hearts III and Avengers: Endgame share one thing in common. They both herald the end of a era of their respective franchises and serve as links to the beginning of a new one.**_

_**And I've had such a strong love for both franchises by just how much they can bring to the table in their own ways.**_

_**After playing and finishing Kingdom Hearts III, I was quite surprised, especially since I had never expected the game to end the way it did. Y'know, 'cos I had anticipated a few hero deaths and no, **_**she**_** wasn't one of them.**_

_**I mean, seriously? All that build up, and it came to **_**nothing**_**. Amounted to **_**nothing! **

**_But anyways, rest assured that this travesty will be undone, and Kairi will be given the development treatment that she so rightfully deserved._**

**_And taking into consideration the bittersweet ending, I'll simply consider _****_I Hope They Remember You as an slight AU ending to KHIII._**

**_As we continue to await the release of Endgame, here's a small prologue to the I Hope They Remember You sequel fic, Whatever It Takes._**

**_I hope you like it!_**

* * *

_There always a beginning, middle and end to every story._

_But was I ever truly a part of it?_

_I was swept away from my world, my heart stolen, and my memories wiped..._

_And then time came calling for me, and once more I was swept away into danger..._

_And then came the fight of my life, until I met my end at the hands of a madman..._

_But every time I was faced with peril, he will be there, the boy with the key._

_He has saved me time and time again... far more times than I'm able count._

_But what have I done for him in return?_

_I have supported him thick and thin, but was it ever enough to repay his goodness?_

_And right at the end of the story, deep in my heart I was certain... maybe, perhaps maybe I could repay him in some way._

_But then it happened... the day when I started losing my friends..._

_The day I lost him... again..._

_And that was when I truly realised, the story had not reached its ended..._

_It has just begun... for me..._

_So_ _I swear by my promise to you, Sora..._

_I will fight to protect your legacy._

_I will find out whoever was the cause of your end, as well as those of our other friends..._ _and I will_ _right this wrong..._

_Whatever it takes._

* * *

_**Kairi: Wait, really? That's it? I think it's shorter than my message in the bottle to Sora!**_

_**A/N: Whoa! Hey Kairi! Didn't see you there!**_

_**Kairi: Hi! And hello to you guys out there as well! [looks back to author] You still haven't answered my question.**_

_**A/N: Oh right! Well, that's because the base of the story surrounds Endgame, right? So I already have an idea of how the plot ought to play out, but I still need to watch Endgame first to see how I can proceed with it.**_

_**Kairi: Hmm... well, I guess you've a good point there... But is any way you could possibly drop some hints of what our audience could expect from the story?**_

_**A/N: [strokes chin] ... As tempting as that sounds... I don't know. I really shouldn't be giving out spoilers this early.**_

_**Kairi: At least what the premise would be about?**_

_**A/N: That's an easy one. Now that Sor-um, I mean, you-know-who is off the playing field, you're gonna step up to fill his shoes and find a way to bring him and everyone else back. And as I stated earlier, you're gonna get some sweet justice for your character arc!**_

_**Kairi: That's great! About time, and without any Nomuras in sight?**_

_**A/N: No Nomuras at all! 100% guaranteed! And since we've still got about a month or so away from the opening number, how's 'bout you keep on preparing yourself for when the time comes?**_

_**Kairi: Sure, I still have some sparring to do with Riku anyways! Well guys, I'll see you later!  
**_

_**A/N: Me too! See you in a month!**_


	2. Chapter I

**Hello again folks! I'm back from watching Avengers Endgame and let me tell you - it was freaking FANTASTIC! **

**For 3-hour long movie, it certainly does a very good job with its action sequences as well as its story-telling and its *ahem*, fan-service moments. Definitely worth the price of admission!**

**With that being said, this story will definitely link up with the events of the movie... eventually. There's a long way to go before Kairi and co. finally meet up with the rest of the Marvel gang.**

**Also, I've taken the liberty in updating the companion kill list of I Hope They Remember You, in light of KHIII. Go check it out. You'll never know who else will be sauntering into the party!**

**Alrighty, I've said enough for this time. Enjoy the story people!**

* * *

_The atmosphere had a feeling of tension in its winds, and the ground was barren and littered with destruction, like a warzone. _

_All around her, the smell of death invaded every one of her senses like a rotting corpse. It was revolting and she did not like it at all._

_And as she looked on with a sense of helplessness, her blue eyes bore witness to what she could only describe as a squash match. And by squash match, she meant that her three allies were being completely wasted and absolutely destroyed right before her._

_They were barely on their last legs, Riku, Mickey... and Sora. They had given everything they had, and still it wasn't enough to countermand the combined forces of Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed that were being led by Ansem, Xemnas and all the other Seekers of Darkness. _

_All except one however._

_"As you can see, Your Highness..." a smooth, baritone voice said from beside her, "Your pitiful band of friends have been brought to their knees, and in no time at all." _

_She barely even casted a glance at her captor, Young Xehanort who was smiling ever so smugly. Sometime during the conflict, he had staged a coup against the older version of himself, whose heart had been used to form one of the copies of No Name Keyblade that hovered behind him._

_"A shame though, I had truly hoped to have one last clash with the so-called "Chosen One". But it seems that such an idea appears trivial now compared to what I have planned." _

_Xehanort turned fully to face her. _

_"Which brings me to you. After you have bear witness to the demise of the worlds' last remnants of hope, I will let you bear witness to the World that is yet to come. And then I shall grant you eternal peace with your friends and loved ones."_

_He let out a dark chuckle that sent chills up and down her spine and made her stomach twist in disgust. _

_It took Kairi all she had to repress her anger; the only sign being her tightly clenched fists at her sides. _

_Down below, Mickey had just been struck to the ground by a now-brainwashed Xion and he got swept away by the Heartless swarms before she could recover._

_Riku meanwhile was in a fight for his life, and he desperately tried to fend off Ansem and Marluxia whom were double-teaming him. That was until Larxene snuck up from behind him and stabbed him in the back and slice his throat simultaneously with her daggers._

_Kairi's eyes widened with terror and horror as one of her two best friends fell to the ground, dead. _

_Xigbar sauntered up to the body, picked it up and gazed at it for a moment before tossing it to one side, joining the pile of other corpses that had once been their other allies. _

_Aqua... Ventus... Donald... Goofy... Roxas... _

_The only one that wasn't there was Axel, considering his brutal death at the hands of Saïx._

_Which left only Sora now, as he fought with rage and vigor against Terra, or should he say Terranort, who so casually deflected every one of his attacks with ease. Leaping up into the air, Sora prepare to use his signature Ragnarok shotlock attack when Vanitas teleported behind him and sliced down on his back._

_"SORA!" Kairi cried out and she watched helplessly as the sixteen-year-old tumbled down to the ground, his Keyblade falling out of his grip. _

_Xehanort let out a scoff, "So much for the Keyblade's Chosen." _

_Down on one knee, a battered and bloodied Sora looked up defiantly at Xemnas who had strode up before him._

_The Nobody levitated his body and extended out his palm. In an instant a torrent of white lightning tore into the teen's defenseless body. And Sora let out a scream of agony, one that Kairi would forever have buried into her subconscious._

_Noticing her reaction to this, Xehanort taunted, "And you said that Sora was the greatest Warrior of Light alive today. A pity. If only I could share your mutual sentiment..." _

_His words stung her to her very core, and deep down inside Kairi could feel unimaginable fury course through her veins._

_Her heart of pure Light was blazing brightly, fueled by her emotions that were spiraling out of control. _

_Enough was enough, she thought. She wasn't going to stand by and become the protected any longer, as she had been since kindergarten with all those bullies. _

_Sora and Riku had been the protectors all this while. _

_Now she would be one herself._

_"NO!" she yelled out angrily and in a blink of an eye, she leapt right off the edge of the gigantic pillar Xehanort had created. _

_Her sudden move caught the evildoer completely by surprise, but she had little time to notice it and and give him a mocking smirk._

_Doing a somersault in the air, the Princess of Heart dove downwards and planted her boots down on the side of the cliff. _

_She started skidding all the way down like a snowboarding professional. _

_Recovering from his shock, Xehanort ran over to the side and glared daggers at her._

_Raising his hand, he called forth all manner of Heartless and Nobodies to appear at the side of the pillar. _

_Narrowing her eyes at the oncoming swarm, Kairi summoned her Keyblade Destiny's Embrace and went to work. She swung her Keyblade ferociously at the dark creatures that were charging at her._

_And for those at a distance, she unleashed every form of spell that Merlin had taught her. Fire. Blizzard. Pearl. Thunder. They were basic spells at best, but the power of Kairi's heart made them almost at level with Sora's own. _

_"Stay back!" she cried out at a lone Shadow Heartless who tried to attack from behind and she jumped and did a backslash at it._

_Up above, Xehanort looked on at her performance, his anger slowly giving way to an impressed stare. _

_"Remarkable..." he thought with a stroke of his beardless chin. _

_By now the other Seekers had caught wind of the commotion on the pillar and they all had their attention focused on the angry Princess who was heading their way._

_But Kairi made no second thought as she touched down on the ground. Twirling her blade at an angle, she charged straight towards them, specifically Xemnas. _

_"Looks like somebody's getting cranky about her boyfriend!" Vanitas goaded in a sing-song voice as he charged towards her and fired Dark Firaga balls._

_Kairi expertly cut through the balls with no fear or hesitation and and delivered a swift kick to Vanitas' gut just as he teleported before her. _

_A handful of the Seekers were stunned seeing the masked teen fall by the wayside, except Larxene who was laughing out in amusement at this._

_Luxord went next as he began dicing out his cards. But to his surprise, Kairi slid past all of them and even started surfing on one of them straight towards him. _

_"I think you dropped this!" she yelled out as she hopped over him last minute. _

_Luxord's eyes went wide as his own giant card sliced him in half cleanly._

_Next was Ansem who had summoned forth his Guardian to try subdue her. But Kairi simply frowned at it and called upon the Light within her. _

_Just as the monstrosity attacked, Kairi shot forth chains of light from the tip of Destiny's Embrace and it wrapped around the Guardian, holding it firmly in place._

_She raced past it as it struggled against its prison. __Try all it might, it could never break those chains, only she could. _

_Angry that his main servant was incapacitated, Ansem flew forwards and prepared to attack. It only served to hasten his imprisonment via chains as well._

_Alarmed that a mere Princess was tearing through their lines of defense, Marluxia and Larxene charged right at her from opposite sides. _

_The pink-haired produced an energy beam with a slash of his scythe and Larxene shot out a barrage of her own lightning from her fingertips._

_Kairi saw both attacks coming and she did a high backflip, allowing them to sail past unhindered straight towards the opposite ends where the two Nobodies were. Both were struck down before they even knew what had happened and they faded from existence._

_With them out of the picture, she finally had a cleared path towards Xemnas who was still unloading lightning unto Sora. _

_By now he had stopped screaming and was now settling for gritted teeth. But he was noticeably weaking and growing paler. He didn't have long until he joined the others._

_"Sora!" Kairi exclaimed at the top of her lungs and she charged straight at Xemnas with her Keyblade raised, preparing to dish out pain to the damned leader of the original Organization. _

_But then all of a sudden, she felt sharp daggers implanting themselves into her back and she halted._

_Slowly but surely, she glanced over her shoulder... to see a handful of glowing arrows sticking out from her. _

_A distance away was Xigbar who had his arrowguns aimed at her. _

_"Forgot about me, sweetheart?" he taunted with a sickening grin before he shot one last arrow, this time at her knee._

_Pain shot from both the shot and the injuries on her back registered in her mind in full force and with a cry of pain, Kairi collapsed onto the ground. _

_In no time at all, her blood began spilling out all over the ground, seeping into the dust and stone all around her until a puddle had formed._

_Taking in harsh, labored breaths, her eyes barely even registered Xemnas, Xigbar, Vanitas, Xion, Saïx, Terranort, and Ansem walking up towards her. __Xehanort aside, the remaining Seekers of Darkness crowded around her, gazing at her with equal amounts of contempt and disgust._

_"Who'd have thought a useless girl like you would have so much potential to become something more...?" Vanitas commented darkly as he calmly kicked aside Destiny's Embrace from Kairi's grip. _

_Aiming Void Gear, he conjured a energy ball of pure darkness and shot it right at the blade, effectively shattering it into a dozen pieces._

_Now defenseless and all alone, the next best thing Kairi could do was stare up at her oppressors, a defiant look on her pained features. _

_"Oh ho... looks like she's got that angry look down too!" Xigbar remarked coyly with a chuckle. _

_"You cannot defy us, Kairi," Saïx stated coldly, "It is pointless at this moment. You are all alone now."_

_"Even Sora has sadly left you behind," Xemnas stated calmly, and gestured with his arm, "Utterly useless and forgotten." _

_Kairi followed his gaze and to her horror, Sora laid unmoving where he was. His body was charred beyond recognition completely limp and smoke continued billowing from his burnt muscles._

_She felt tears forming at her eyelids, and emptiness slowly taking hold of her heart. _

_Sora was gone. Dead. Passed on. _

_Just like all her other friends. _

_Even Riku and Axel. _

_She had nothing else to live for now. _

_Kairi lowered her head in absolute defeat, allowing the guilt and self-loathing to take control of her thoughts_

_Xigbar frowned slightly at the change of mood. _

_"Aw... you just had to go ruin it, Xemnas," he complained to the Nobody, "I was kinda enjoying her moment of spite towards us!" _

_"It would not have mattered anyhow," Ansem stated with a fold of his arms, "Soon her heart, mind and body will all be destroyed. Never again will she have a chance to be reborn."_

_Vanitas rolled his eyes behind his mask, "Ugh... spare me the dramatic theoretical poetry why don't you? Can we just kill her now?" _

_Xemnas took a step forth and summoned one of his red ethereal blades in his palm. _

_He shared a stare with Kairi, and the latter swore she thought she saw a hint of... regret in his eyes? _

_Before she could even dwell on this, Xemnas went for her neck with his blade, and all her troubles ended in an instant..._

* * *

With a loud, stifled gasp, Kairi shot up in her bed in a sitting position.

Acting as if she had been underwater for too long, she took in big gasps of fresh air out of desperation.

She wiped away fresh sweat that had formed on her forehead and she clenched at her chest tightly, feeling the hard poundings of her heart against her ribcage.

As her mind calmed and she regained her senses, her eyes started darting all around to the darkness that shrouded her room.

_"Another one..."_ she thought bitterly in her mind and she lowered her head. All her memories of reality came back to her like a huge tsunami wave.

She was fighting in the Keyblade War when Xemnas snatched her up and took her to Master Xehanort who knocked her out and dangled her right in front of Sora to taunt him before he...

Hissing softly to herself, Kairi fought against the urge to remember how traumatizing and painful her death was.

The way she turned into some water/glass statue before shattering into a million pieces...

Her life flashing before her eyes...

Just thinking about it made her instinctively curl up into a ball and wrap her arms tightly around her legs.

That was something she was not certain she could ever experience through again, and come out the same person. Especially on Sora's life...

Oh Sora... as selfless as he usually was...

He used the Power of Waking to traverse back to the Final World where he had helped her regain her body.

Seeing a handful of her copies running around in circles or dancing about stupidly was something she was definitely embarrassed about. She made Sora swear on his life to never talk about this to anyone else.

And thus they returned to Destiny Islands after that, where they and everyone else celebrated Kairi's return.

At that moment, everything felt right with the world again.

As it had been so for several months, that was until **it** happened.

All over the world, many innocent people suddenly vanished, turned into ash that flew away with the wind.

Amongst those lost were also her friends.

Wakka, Riku... and _Sora_.

A lone tear fell down her cheek and Kairi bit back a sob.

Oh how had she remembered breaking down emotionally after sharing that kiss with him before he too disappeared. And even the combined efforts of Tidus and Selphie were not enough to console her.

Which brought her to tonight, mere hours after the event. Still in despair and wracked with sadness and anguish.

"Why...?" she mumbled under her breath, "Why does fate hate us being together?"

Raising her head, she looked out through her window to the outside.

Normally, nights like these would still be a bit bustling. There would be scores of folks walking about at random times. But this time however, there was no one.

The mainland felt more like an ghost town now. Everyone was probably at home, going through the same thing as she was. Crying themselves to sleep.

And even though the authorities and the world's best scientists, or what was left of them, were looking into this, Kairi was almost certain that they would find nothing. No evidence of any kind to explain what had transpired. After all, Sora himself had voiced his suspicions of this being a universal crisis. Too bad he was no longer around to investigate it.

And since Kairi was amongst the lucky ones to survive, he had bequeathed his Keyblade to her.

She, who had no personal knowledge or experience, was now given a monumental new task to save the worlds.

And despite the promise she mafe to him earlier, a sense of melancholy was now plaguing the teen's mind.

How was she able to do this? Where did she even start? Could she ever be able to solve this mystery? And most importantly, could she ever be able to bring back everyone that was lost?

A heavy burden was now settled on her shoulders.

Wherever they were, Sora, Riku, Wakka and everyone else were now counting on her to lead the way forward.

A Princess of Heart to her friends, but practically a nobody to everybody else. Even Tidus and Selphie were unaware of what had transpired during the Xehanort pandemonium, not that Sora had neglected to tell them anyhow.

With all these thoughts circling in her mind, Kairi let out a soft whimper and lowered her head against her knees.

"What am I going to do?" she wondered quietly to herself.

But just then, there was a flash of light coming from outside that partially illuminated her room.

Raising her eyebrow at this, Kairi got up from her bed and went over to the sill. Peering outside, she watched as a lone falling star moved across the night sky.

Just seeing this astronomical phenomena taling place brought a saddened smile to her face.

"It's so beautiful..." she muttered in awe, "If only Sora, Riku and Wakka could've seen this..."

Her mind briefly thought back to all those times when all of them would gather together to watch the shooting stars streak across the sky.

There was a sense of wonderment every time they saw it, and even to this day, they still did.

According to Selphie, the shooting stars would always bring about a sense of a joy and happiness to her life whenever times got real tough on her. And Sora said that dreams really do come true if you ever wished upon it, although Riku ridiculed him for still thinking something that was too childish for his age.

Kairi giggled softly to herself as she remembered the banter they had.

_"Sora. Sometimes I wonder if your brain grows up with the rest of you."_

_"Of course it does! It's just that I think differently from the rest of you!"_

_"And you thinking differently constitutes rushing into things without a plan?" _

_"Wha-? What makes you think like that?"_

_"I... have my sources..."_

_"Sources? What do you mean by... _Donald!_"_

And that was only just two months ago. When life was returning back to normal again pre-Xehanort.

Kairi should have known it was too good to be true.

Something bad always had to make itself known through terrible means. And now this time she was the one who had to fix it.

She continued staring up at the star in the sky, sighing softly under her breath as she did.

And then all of a sudden, the star suddenly changed course sharply, angling in the direction that... she was in.

With widening eyes, Kairi backed away from the window and rolled over her bed to the other side.

From there she watched as the star flew directly into her room and hovered right at the centre.

Staring at it warily, she quietly contemplated her options.

It didn't look... that dangerous... She should she approach it or something?

And that was when the star suddenly flashed its brightest, and Kairi's vision went white before she shut her lids and shielded with her arms.

And then it dissipated, allowing her to open her eyes and blink out the spots.

In the place of the star, now stood a female figure. She was youthful in appearance, maybe about a year or so older than Kairi. Her light-green hair was tied up in a ponytail. She was donned in a red dress, high-heeled boots and had a cape draped behind her back.

But what alarmed Kairi the most, was the visible signs of bruises and injuries all over her body. And then the girl's violet eyes looked towards her, acknowledging her.

With a pained smile, she weakly addressed, "Finally found you... Princess Kairi..."

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed onto the ground.

Squeaking in surprise, Kairi raced forwards and knelt down right beside her.

She was no medical expert, but she had seen enough movies and TV serials to know what to do in this situation.

Kairi placed two fingers on the girl's wrist to check for her pulse. She felt a weak rhythm of the pumping, but it was holding strong.

_"At least she's safe now..."_ she thought to herself with relief.

Noticing Sora's Kingdom Key leaning by her bedframe, she brisked over to it and grabbed it by the handle.

Walking back over to the girl, she held up over her head and whispered out, "Heal."

A wave of green washed over the teen, and all the injuries quickly disappeared as though she never got them in the first place.

Setting the Keyblade aside, Kairi slowly and carefully picked up the girl by her arms and dragged her onto her bed.

Surprisingly she was lighter than she had anticipated, so Kairi didn't have to waste much effort carrying her. With that done, she gentle covered the girl with her blanket.

Standing off to one side, Kairi stared at the slumbering girl for a brief moment.

_"There's a stranger who came through my window and passed out in my room..."_ she thought to herself, _"And now she's sleeping in my bed."_

Not that she was unhappy with that. She was always happy to provide shelter to those in need. But this one was a very special case.

"Her injuries... how did she get them?" she wondered under her breath, "And more importantly, why is she here for me?"

Kairi did pick up on the use of a formal title "Princess", as well as her name.

Could her apparance here be connected to whatever happened earlier?

Unfortunately however, questions were going to have to wait, at least until either it was morning, or the girl woke up.

And until then...

With one final glance to the girl, Kairi quietly walked out of her bedroom.

She wouldn't mind sleeping at the couch.

Just this once.

* * *

**Kairi: Wow. Way to start of a story.**

**A/N: I apologise if it's a bit of a touchy subject (especially for yourself), but hey, at least you've gotten a bit of time to shine! Even if it's just a dream. **

**Kairi: So that a preview of what I could potentially become?**

**A/N: ... Maybe? Why get caught up in the details this early in the game?**

**A/N: Also, here's a fun fact for you guys! The whole sequence with you wrecking half of the Seekers was partially inspired by a Youtube video I've watched online recently. It's a mini-animated film titled "Crimson Alpine" by Resh. Go check it out! P.S. the main character in the video looks an awful lot like Kairi for some reason, from my point-of-view anyways.**

**Sora: Whoa really?! **

**A/N: Oh yeah! The way she skids down the side of a snow mountain and snipes the hell outta-hey, what the heck are you doing here Sora? Aren't you supposed to be finishing up on the sets?**

**Lea [OC]: Yo, Sora! You mind lending a hand with this thing?**

**Sora: Coming Lea! Well, see you guys later!**

**Kairi: I'll help out too.**

**(Both of them brisk over to help Axel and Roxas carry a bunch of props.)**

**A/N: As time goes by, there'll be more characters you'll see as the story goes along, so stay tuned for that! Anyways, I better go get the rest of the sets ready! See you guys later!**

**"CRASH!"**

**Xion: Lea! You toppled over the blue police box!**

**A/N: Good God...!**

**(Runs over to help the others with the prop.)**


	3. Chapter II

**A/N: Alrighty then! Here's the next chapter! I apologise if it feel a bit shorter than the previous one, I had prior commitments to take care of.**

**Vanitas: UNITE WITH ME VENTUS!**

**A/N: This sadly is one of them...**

**Roxas: Hey, stop it already! I'm not Ven!**

**(Both Keyblade wielders clash their Keyblades as they destroy one of the sets)**

**Lea: Guys seriously! Could ya take this somewhere else! That set cost us a few billion munny!**

**Xion: You're exaggerating things again, Lea.**

**Kairi: We could get Mr. Stark to help pay for the repairs.**

**Sora: I thought the writer said he refused to come in until one of the future chapters?**

**Riku: Well... shit...**

**Naminé: On the bright side, we won't be using the set until much later.**

**A/N: True that, ****Naminé. Well better get started then I suppose, with kicking Vanitas outta here first! Aside from that... enjoy the chapter folks! Love you 3000!**

* * *

She waited, and she waited. And then she decided to watch some shows on the television. And then she went to eat some snacks with her grandma. And then she waited some more.

Kairi was growing worried. Very worried. It had been close to six hours since she woke up, and still she hadn't woken up.

The mysterious girl who was still fast asleep in her bedroom.

Why, Kairi was willing to bet she could go to school for the entire day, and she would come home to her still out of it. But of course, school had been suspended indefinitely as a result of the disappearing catastrophe, so that wasn't an option.

As she continued pacing around the living room briskly with her hands folded and clasped behind her back and her face masked in anxiousness, her grandma continued to watch on from the sofa with a sense of melancholy.

"Why isn't she awake yet?" Kairi muttered under her breath, "I mean, I've never seen anyone sleeping through almost three-quarters of the day. Even Sora couldn't top that!"

She raised a hand to her temple and rubbed it.

"Oh man... I don't like this quiet atmosphere... not one bit. What if she's in a coma or-"

Her eyes widened and she gasped, "Oh no! What if she's _really_ in a coma, or she was died in her asleep and I didn't know about it?! Heck, even the fact that the hospitals and clinics are all shut down complicates things!"

It was at this point that her grandma decided to step in before she went into a mental breakdown.

"Kairi, I think you should take a seat and calm down first," she advised gently, "Overthinking things would only give you stress and irrational thoughts."

Sighing deeply, Kairi reluctantly walked over to the sofa and sat down beside her grandma.

"Ugh... this sucks..." she groaned as she buried her face in her hands, "Why do these things always have to happen to me...?"

Fate can be a real bitch, especially when you've always been dangled around like some prized trophy or a martyr for much of your life.

Smiling sadly at her distressed granddaughter, her grandmother reached over and patted her gently on the back, if it was to provide any sort of comfort. It probably wouldn't accomplish much, considering how further her already-broken granddaughter broke when she heard news that her adoptive father had too perished, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't give up on her.

Just then, the doorbell rang, and both family members looked over with raised eyebrows.

"Were we expecting anyone, dear?" Kairi's grandma asked confusingly.

"... I don't think so..." Kairi replied back, a frown set on her face and she rose to her feet.

She walked over to the front door, as the sound of knocks began tapping against the wood.

Reaching over to the round handle, she gripped it firmly and twisted it open.

A second later and she founded herself getting tackled to the ground by someone who had burst through the entranceway and squealed at the top of her lungs.

"Kairi! I'm so happy to see you!"

Grunting in pain at the pair of arms squeezing the life out of her, Kairi croaked out, "Yeah... good to see you too...! Now could you please... get off of me Selphie...?"

She felt the sheer load of 54kg removed from her chest, much to her relief. Maybe a pinch of Cure would be nice.

As she got up on her feet, she also acknowledged her other surviving friend standing behind the beaming Selphie.

Unlike her though, Tidus was acting far more withdrawn than usual, if he ever had a reserved second personality. Still though, she was happy for that smile he at least tried to put up.

"Hey there, Kai," he greeted her with a two-finger salute.

Reciprocating with a nod, she spoke out, "What brings you guys out here today?"

"Well... we thought we could just drop by and maybe hangout with you," Selphie replied, "Y'know... seeing as a lot of our classmates are gone and all..."

Kairi could easily view a flash of grief wash over her features for a brief instant, and she could sense the pain and sadness radiating from her own heart.

Selphie was always the outgoing girl who loved to become friends with everyone she met. Having to lose much of them was clearly having a major effect on her internally.

"I see..." she said quietly with understanding.

She stepped to one side and gestured with her hand.

"Come on in," she welcomed them, "I've pretty much nothing to do besides watching the TV."

Tidus raised an eyebrow at this as he stepped inside, "Oh? The networks are still on? I thought all the services in the mainland went offline?"

Kairi shrugged her shoulders, "Media business goes on I guess."

While she moved to close the door shut, her friends removed their shoes/sandals and set them on one of the shelves of the shoe rack.

At the exact same time, Kairi's grandmother slowly walked over from the living room.

Seeing both teens, she greeted them politely with a warm smile.

"Ah, Tidus and Selphie. It is nice to see you both again."

"And us too, Mdm Umi," Selphie greeted back with a courteous bow of respect.

Tidus made no verbal reply, which was kind of odd to Kairi, but he still smiled geniunely and made a small bow.

Nodding back at them, Mdm Umi said, "Make yourselves at home. Any company we have is much appreciative, especially with whatever happened yesterday."

"You guys want a drink?" Kairi offered as she moved past then towards the kitchen, "We have fruit punch and soda."

"Soda for me Kai!" Selphie chirpily.

Tidus shrugged his shoulders, "Fruit punch sounds nice."

As the pair got settled in at the living room, Kairi took two glass cups and poured out the two separate fluids for her friends. She brought them out over to the couch.

"Thanks a bunch!" Selphie said earnestly and took a huge gulp from her soda.

"Whoa! Slow down there, Selph! Don't wanna have you choking up again in Kairi's house!" Tidus chatsied her playfully.

Kairi giggled along to this, "Don't worry about it. I've gotten some first-aid skills at the ready."

Removing the cup from her lips, Selphie exclaimed out, "You hear that Tidus? I've got nothing to worry about! Kairi'll save me before I choke to death!"

Setting down their cups on the table in front of them, both of them turned their attention towards Kairi. In an instant, the joyful atmosphere turned sombre.

"So how you've been?" Selphie asked her softly, "Y'know, considering most of the people here still crying their hearts out and all..."

Kairi chuckled humorlessly, "You really need to ask that?"

She tucked away a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Well... all things considered... I'm doing okay for now. I mean, it's not like I saw my best friends vanish before my eyes, and then coming back home later to find out my dad also disappeared..."

Tidus gaped his mouth open in shock at this piece of news. "The Mayor's gone too?"

Kairi wrapped her arms around her chest.

"I know. Shocking, isn't it?" she mumbled out, "I lost too much in a short amount of time..."

Selphie sighed quietly to herself and lowered her head.

"Me too. My parents disappeared right before my eyes. Just as I reached home." she croaked out despondently, unaware of a lone tear falling down her cheek.

Tidus folded his arms, "I probably wouldn't know about parental grief. My old man disappeared when I was still just a kid, and my mom died soon after. I lived at Wakka's since then."

He sent a remorseful look to both girls, "Nevertheless, I'm sorry for your losses."

Both Kairi and Selphie responded with grateful smiles, but for the next few minutes after that, silence was felt all around the living room. Each individual coped with his or her losses from the previous day.

Whilst it was saddening to see that Selphie had to watch her own parents die before her eyes and Tidus to lose his bestest best buddy, Kairi was definitely the hardest hit in all of this. Not only did she lose Sora and Riku, but she also lost her adoptive father as well.

Looling back on her life, it had been filled with nothing but absolute bad luck. Whatever that had to go wrong, always included one crucial ingredient into the mix. Herself. She had been a damsel in distress for far too many times than she was able to keep count - perhaps enough that she could maybe get gold munny for every time it happened. And in all those times, she admittedly had been rather useless and weak.

Unlike Sora and Riku, before the Keyblade Graveyard Kairi had no measure of formal training. She wasn't really that physically inclined, nor did she have the skills needed to take on the likes of the Heartless, the Nobodies, or the countless other foes that stood in their way across multiple worlds.

Which was a critical factor why Xemnas had managed to get the drop on her and subdue her rather quickly, aside from that little detail the Nobody had subtly casted a spell that neutralised her magic and paralysed much of her body before handing her over to Mastef Xehanort.

Without her main weapon of offense, the elderly Keyblade Master took no less than a few minutes to torture her before she passed out from the shock and dangled her in front of Sora and then proceeding to-

"Kairi?" Selphie's voice broke through her dark thoughts, and the redhead gasped softly with a flinch.

She blinked her eyes rapidly in confusion as she glanced around to her friends and her grandmother, all of whom were looking at her with concerned expressions.

"You alright?" Selphie asked her with a hint of worry in her voice, "You looked a bit out of it for a moment."

Rubbing her forehead to relax her consciousness, Kairi replied back, "Sorry, I was just... thinking about something..."

"Anything you'd like to share with us?" Tidus asked her gently, "We're always here for you, y'know?"

As much as she was appreciative of their constant support, Kairi was never one to impose her troubles and burdens on others.

"It's alright, guys. I'm good," she replied back warmly.

"Well, if there's anything that's upsetting you, we'll always be here to lend you our ears," Selphie offered whole-heartedly, "That's what friends are for after all."

Tidus nodded his head, "Ditto."

"And I shall always be here too, if you need me," Mdm Umi consoled her grandchild.

Kairi felt something in her heart crack slightly. Not out of sheer sadness and grief, but thankfulness and joy.

Even though Sora and Riku were no longer around to share her happiness and pain with, she still had the comfort of her others friends and her family to hold onto. Her remaining lifeline to keep her balanced and steady, and she was not about to let it go.

"Thank you..." she spoke to them with a smile, "I really need that right now..."

Selphie nodded her head, "As do we all."

All of a sudden however, a "thud!" sound came, and everyone started looking all around.

"What was that?" Tidus wondered in confusion.

"I think I have an idea..." was the response on Kairi's mind, but she didn't voice it out.

Instead, she got off from the sofa and raced over to her bedroom. Surprised by this, Tidus and Selphie shot out of their seats.

"Where're you going, Kai?" Selphie called out as she and Tidus chased after her.

Mdm Umi meanwhile simply looked on to see what the commotion was about.

As she arrived at the door, Kairi could make out some noises coming from within.

Unfortunately, they amounted to nothing more than faint muffling, so she couldn't really tell what was going on inside.

Somewhere deep down in her heart, Kairi was slightly hoping that her room wasn't being trashed right now.

Taking a deep breath, she twisted the door knob and pushed it open. As she took in the sight of her room, her eyes caught sight of the green-haired girl who had halted mid-way into rummaging her entire closet to look back at her with a wide-eyed expression.

Kairi traced the trail of destruction on the ground, from opened books to littered pieces of clothing, and then finally to her cardboard box that had been resting atop her study desk before it was toppled over.

Fearing for her life as if she was caught red-handed, the girl apologised profusely, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to cause such a mess!"

Eyeing her silently, Kairi was about respond when Selphie and Tidus arrived at her room.

"Alright Kairi, what's gotten you so worked up all of a-" the latter questioned before he and Selphie too caught sight of the girl standing in the middle of the room.

An awkward moment followed as Selphie leaned towards Kairi and whispered softly, "Please tell me you're not... um..."

Kairi gave her a bewildered expression.

"What? No! No I'm not!" she whispered back harshly, "Do I look like that type of girl to you?!"

Selphie sighed with relief, "Phew... For a moment I thought you were going down that... path of life..."

Tidus tapped on their shoulders lightly.

"If you ladies are done with... whatever you're talking about..." he said and pointed over to the third girl, "She looks like she's the odd one out here."

And he wasn't really wrong on that point. Her clueless expression aside, her clothes wouldn't really stand out in their town.

But that wasn't the point right now.

Taking a small step towards the girl, Kairi opened up warmly, "Hello there. I think we haven't been properly introduced before, right?"

She made a smile, "I'm Kairi."

The girl seemed to relax slightly as Kairi addressed her.

She nodded her head, "Yes. I know who you are, and it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Terra Branford."

For some reason, Kairi was caught offguard by her name.

"Wait, your name is Terra?" Terra tilted her head curiously, "You know me from somewhere before?"

Odd, why wasn't she even aware of something like that?

Kairi shook her head with a giggle, "No, of course not. I mean I know someone else who's name is Terra. He's a Keyblade wielder."

Terra's eyes widened slightly at the mentioned title.

"Oh yes, of course... One of the three pupils of Master Eraqus," she acknowledged with a nod, "Wasn't he the one who fell to the darkness?"

Kairi nodded her head, "That's what they told me. But don't worry, he's back on the Light side now."

All of a sudden however, Terra looked rather uneasy.

"Yes... about that, um..."

She started staring down at her high-heeled boots and played with her fingers. Kairi was now looking rather nervous as she could sense her growing hesitation.

What has been going on out there since Xehanort's downfall?

"There's something that's been happening to the worlds in recent times," Terra started explaining solemnly, "Something that's upsetting the balance of the Light and Dark. I could sense it with my magic. There are essences of life that ought to be there, but now they aren't."

"Hold the phone, sister!" Tidus suddenly exclaimed out from behind, "You know _magic?!_"

Beside him, Selphie questioned her, "You know what's happening around here?! With everyone all disintegrating into dust and ash?!"

Terra nodded her head, "Yes, I do. But unfortunately, I'm just an apprentice so I do not truly have all the details about this dillemma. And that brings me to you, Kairi."

With her attention solely focused on the Princess of Heart, she said gravely, "I need you to come with me back to the Mysterious Tower. My Master will be there to explain the situation to you."

"Your Master?" Kairi questioned, "You mean Master Yen Sid, right?"

Terra looked nervous again and she scratched the back of her head.

"Um..."

Suddenly, there was a loud shriek of a woman coming from outside.

Alarmed by this, the four teens rushed over to the window. Down below, they watched as a middle-aged woman raced along the pavement until she tripped and fell over her heels.

There was an evident look of fear on her face, which Kairi wonder why she was acting that way.

Her answer came in the form of a hideous, grosteque creature that appeared out of nowhere from the ground.

As the teens looked on in horror, it used its claws to stab the woman through her chest and used its teeth to _literally_ peel away the skin and flesh from her bones.

Terrfied by what she was seeing, Selphie backed away from the window and covered her mouth. Tidus on the other hand looked as though he was about to puke. And Kairi was definitely disturbed by what they had just witnessed.

She then heard Terra mumble something beside her, and she looked over to her.

"Oh Gods..." the wide-eyed teen whispered softly, "This is all my fault..."

And in that moment, Kairi's memory of all those injuries and bruises resurfaced.

"Terra. When you came into my room last night, I saw a lot of markings all over your body," she stated seriously, "Might I chance a guess and say that thing was responsible?"

Terra shook her head, "No. It wasn't that thing. It was more than just that thing. I was ambushed by a large horde on my way here."

Kairi's eyes widened, "A horde? Like a Heartless army?"

Again, Terra shook her head, "These creatures, they're more terrifying than the Heartless. Faster, stronger, and far more dangerous than any creature that the darkness has ever produced."

She looked to Kairi, a morbid look crossing her paled features.

"Daemons."


	4. Chapter III

**A/N: AAAAAAAAANNNNDD... we're back ladies and gentlemen! Apologies for the slight delay! Life got in the way again, and well... THIS guy too!**

**(Tightens on rope binding Vanitas to a post.)**

**Vanitas: Ugh! Let me go!**

**Xion: Not a chance, Mask Boy. Not after you tore down three of our sets!**

**Roxas: And all because you mistook me for Ventus!**

**Riku: At least Cloud doesn't mistake me for Sephiroth.**

**A/N: Um...**

**(Hands Riku the script for I Hope They Remember You Chapter 6)**

**(Riku reads for a few minutes)**

**Riku: Damn it!**

**Sora: But seriously, can someone get Ven on the horn? His other half is gonna keep risking us munny if he stays here.**

**Kairi: Would if we could, but I think he's with Aqua and Terra talking with Nomura about the next Kingdom Hearts spin-off.**

**A/N: Oh really? And that would be?**

**Kairi: Maybe Birth by Sleep 0.3?**

**A/N: Oh God no! We've already have enough extended crap with the time travel thing and the convoluted plot that keeps on getting even more confusing!**

**Naminé: I don't think that's what she meant...**

**A/N: Whatever, look the readers are here to read the next chapter! Not watch us arguing about all the things wrong with Kingdom Hearts!**

**Riku: Yeah, our reputations are at stake by just talking through the entire story!**

**Vanitas: Yeah!**

**A/N: Stow it! No opinions outta you!**

**Sora: Alright guys! Enjoy yourselves whilst we get this mess sorted out.**

**(Everyone started bickering again)**

* * *

One word. All it took was one word to spur her into action. Unfortunately though, it wasn't 'Heartless' or 'Nobody' or even 'Organization'.

It was 'Daemon'.

And while she did not know these breed of monsters personally, just by that title she new that they were trouble.

Without any further hesitation, Kairi raced over to grab Kingdom Key and head out the door, not before telling her grandmother to stay out of sight though. In great strides, she charged out into the middle of the district she lived in. There her eyes started darting about, wary of her surroundings.

Coming up from behind her, Tidus and Selphie came to a stop and began taking labored breaths.

"Jeez Kairi... Couldn't... you... have... waited... a little bit...?" Tidus panted out with an exasperated look directed at the redhead.

Terra Branford was in-flight as she brought up the rear.

Landing back on the ground, she gazed upwards to the sky above.

"Darkness is descending..." she muttered softly.

Kairi followed her gaze, and slowly a grave expression crept over her features.

The peaceful blue sky that reigned over the afternoon, began to darken exponentially.

The white fluffy clouds covered the sky and grew, and they darken as well into a shade that would be ripe for a major thunderstorm or a hurricane. Claps of thunder began rumbling angrily all across Destiny Islands.

Nervous by everything that was happening, Selphie worriedly asked, "What's happening?"

Kairi shook her head, "I don't know. But seeing the world in this state suddenly brings back a bit of... nostalgia."

Suddenly, there was a loud snarl coming from close by. The four were alarmed by the sight of pack of human-sized freaks heading their way.

Goblins was the terms Kairi would use to describe them.

The closest goblin leapt in the sky and bared its fangs. It made a dive down towards Selphie, whose eyes were widening in terror. However it only got as far as a few feet before Kairi stepped in and swiped it away with the Kingdom Key. The other goblins hissed angrily at this and they made a beeline towards her.

Stepping in beside the redhead, Terra summoned her sword and aimed it at the approaching pack. Concentrating hard, she let loose a volley of fireballs through her blade and it struck the goblins home directly in their chests. With final cries of agony, they all collapsed to the ground. Dead.

With an exchange of smiles and nods, both girls looked back to Tidus and Selphie whom were staring on at them with wide-eyed looks.

A moment of silence followed.

"That... was... so cool!" Tidus exclaimed, "I mean, the way you swatted that thing Kairi! A-And then you with the sword-pointing and the fireballs of death, Miss... uh... what was your name again?"

Terra blinked at him, "... Terra Branford."

Selphie on the other hand, simple acted as if she just saw an action movie come to life. Deep inside her mind, Kairi could just imagine all that freaking out the fangirl side of her friend was doing right now on the inside. But she could worry about that later.

"These daemons..." she said as she turned in Terra's direction, "... have you met them before?"

She hoped she did. Otherwise it would be almost impossible to plan how they were going to go through with saving an entire world from these things.

Her hopes were dashed mere seconds later with a head shake from the green-haired teen.

"Unfortunately, no. You can imagine my surprise when I first they ambushed me," Terra responded, "All that I know is that they're far more enduring as compared to the Heartless."

Not exactly a helpful info, but Kairi would take what she could get.

"Okay, so they're really tough. We have to careful around them."

Just then, the four heard more screams cry out across the air, along with the sounds of roars, cackles and growling.

Selphie gasped out loud, "The townsfolk!"

Kairi narrowed her eyes seriously, "C'mon! We gotta save them!"

Both she and Terra started racing off in the direction of the city area, as fast as their legs would carry them.

Until a few metres later when Tidus suddenly called out from behind them, "Whoa hey! Wait a minute you guys!"

Halting in their stride, both girls looked back to Tidus and Selphie whom were standing in the same spot awkwardly.

"What about us?" Tidus questioned anxiously.

Kairi frowned at him, "It's quite obvious, actually. You two. Go hide somewhere. Stay out of sight." She started walking away again.

But then Selphie spoke up from behind, "But we wanna help too! This is our home too, you know!"

Kairi looked back to them, and could see the worried looks on their faces.

Her heart ached slightly at this.

"Believe me, this is the last thing I need from you guys. You could get killed!" she stated.

Selphie glared daggers at her and folded her arms, "Oh, so it's alright that we watch you charging in there without any more help?"

Kairi gestured to Terra, "I have her. And she's got magic."

"That's beside the point, Kai! We're your friends! And damnit, we can't simply just stand to one side and watch our entire world go to shit again like last time!" Tidus snapped at her, his voice mixed with frustration and concern, "Besides, we need to be there for you since Sora and Riku aren't around anymore! What would they think if they saw you barging into fights on your own?!"

Kairi's featured softened upon the mentioning of her two best friends. For a brief moment, she retreated into the haze of her deep thoughts.

As much as she hated to admit it, Tidus was right. When there had been a time when she was able to fend for herself... her school projects aside?

As far as she was concerned, every time she was thrust into danger, she was always at the receiving end of it. Every. Single. Time. And whenever that happened, it would always be Sora to swoop in to save the day. And as much as she was eager to break that pathetic track record, she had to confess to herself of one tiny detail.

She could not do it alone.

One good example of this was Sora. He didn't just accumulate fighting experience and adventuring habits by just venturing across the worlds on his own. He had Donald and Goofy by his side, and herself to some extent during his first adventure. But mostly Donald and Goofy.

Granted Riku had to fend for himself for the most part, what with his darkness dilemma and all that. But he also had Mickey. Mickey! A freaking **King** of an entire world and a **Keyblade Master** to boot!

And Kairi? True she was one of the seven Princesses of Heart, but that was all that was special about her! Aside from that? A damned damsel and a martyr! Simply dangled on a hook like some prize to be won!

And why was that? The more she dwelled on it, the more she came to a realisation. She had no one beside her. And no, Pluto did not really count since he hadn't been with her for that long in that cell.

She could technically count out Hayner, Pence and Olette too, but since they were going up against Axel at the time, she couldn't really blame them.

And now here were Tidus and Selphie, her other two lifelong friends who were willing to stand by her side and fight back the monsters. A part of her was still wanting to tell them to just run. Run and hide away from the danger and hopefully things settle down before they got worse. But the other part of her was thinking otherwise.

Both of them were in the same predicament as her. Survivors of a massive decimation of innocents, and now under threat from an invading force. And judging by the looks on their faces, Kairi could tell that they wanted to be with her until the very end. With all their other friends and loved ones gone, they clearly would have nothing else to live for, save for Kairi herself.

She was their only friend left, and if anything happened to her if they stayed on the sidelines, they probably couldn't live with themselves. Kairi felt another pang of guilt struck her soul, but then she forcefully swallowed it down. If this would help ease their conscience, then she would be happy to do so as their friend.

Turning to Terra, she questioned, "Just curious. Are you able to conjure up things with your magic?"

Terra raised an eyebrow, "I guess so... why do you ask?"

Kairi gestured with her eyes subtly over to Tidus and Selphie. Within seconds the green-haired teen understood.

She brisked her way over to the pair, Tidus specifically, and gazed at his form for a single moment.

With a wave of her hands, she produced into her hand a longsword with a blue blade that shimmered like crystallised water.

She handed it to Tidus who marvelled at it for a brief moment.

"Me likey!" he exclaimed ecstatically as he swung it around to get a feel of it.

Terra moved over to Selphie next, who had an expectant look on her face. Her violet eyes analysing her form expressionlessly, Terra a long moment thinking over what she should give her. Eventually, she summoned up a weapon and gave it to the bumbly teen.

Selphie's joyous expression dropped faster than glass.

"Nunchucks?!" she cried out in stunned bewilderment at Terra as she walked back over to Kairi, "Are you kidding me?! You can make any type of weapon, and you give me _nunchucks?!_"

Kairi shrugged her shoulders and folded her arms, "I think they're a good fit for you, Selph."

Inwardly she was trying her best not to laugh.

Tidus on the other hand was making his feelings known.

A loud laugh voiced around the area, which made Selphie even more embarassed.

"Oh man...! This is... so perfect...!" Tidus chortled between gasps.

Selphie glared at him for a brief moment before she whacked him in the ribs with one end of her nunchucks.

Tidus let out a cry of surprise as the pain registered with him and he jumped back slightly. This time Terra herself could not help but giggle softly.

"She'll get used to them," Kairi remarked knowingly.

Terra smiled and nodded back in agreement. But the moment was not to last.

The four heard another snarl, and then the ground shook as a new daemonic creature landed before them.

Unlike the previous ones, this one was bigger. Way bigger. It had the upper body of a woman, and the lower body of a spider.

Naturally, it got a normal response from Selphie.

"Aiiiieee! Big giant bug lady!" she screamed in terror.

Kairi on the other hand stood firm and held out Kingdom Key at the ready. She had faced down a Heartless army before. A grotesque being didn't scare her that much.

Terra too gripped her sword hard in her hands, prepared for another fight.

Tidus expertly twirled his sword and exclaimed, "Alright! Let's take this thing down a notch or two!"

Kairi nodded her head, "I'll go for the upper half! You guys take out its legs!"

Tidus and Terra nodded in agreement, whilst Selphie continued to stare at her nunchucks dumbfounded.

Angling the Keyblade, Kairi led the charge right at the spider woman.

From there, the battle was on.

With experience (however limited it was) and adrenaline flowing through her veins, Kairi began taking quick slices and jabs at the monster's bare chest and head.

While it was distracted by her onslaught, Tidus struck at her legs and Terra provided cover with her long-ranged magic attacks. Fire. Ice. Lightning. She used every known spell she had learnt at her disposal.

But the monster was also retaliating. From time to time it would spew out acid from its mouth, shoot out its webs, and even discharge currents of electricity to give itself some breathing room.

Selphie on the other hand, continued to remain on the sidelines. She gazed at the thing analytically and scratched her head with a finger.

"Hyah!" Kairi cried out as she unloaded a barrage of Pearl orbs right at the monster, forcing it back a couple of steps.

Taking point, Tidus delivered a strong, powerful roundhouse kick to the chest in the same fashion he would his blitzball.

From behind the monster, Terra conjured up a massive orb that was churning with dark purple energy.

"Take this!" she yelled out and hurled it right at it.

The orb exploded in its back, the force causing the monster to screech out and tumble forwards to the ground.

Forming up together again, Terra exclaimed, "It's down! Now's our chance!"

Kairi nodded, "Let's go!"

The trio advanced towards the downed monster.

And that, naturally, was where the tables turned.

Just as Kairi neared it and went for a slashing move, the daemon unleashed a burst of electricity that no one saw coming.

Unable to react in time, the three teens bore the full brunt of the blast into their undefended bodies, and the surging force sent them flying backwards.

Unfortunately for Tidus, his landing spot just so happened to be where an unaware Selphie was standing in.

"I don't get it. How's the nunchucks supposed to fight off-OOF!"

Tidus slammed right into her and the two tumbled across the ground until they came to stop close to the side of a house.

Terra on the other hand, crashed right through the sealed glass window of an office building while Kairi skidded to a stop just close to the edge of the open area.

Forcing herself to shake off the shock coursing through her systems, the Princess of Heart staggered to her feet. Her body was battered and bruised, and her clothes were sightly charred, but Kairi was not about to let her resolve get hurt as well.

As the monster got back to its feet and began charging straight towards her, Kairi moved into a defensive position, more than prepared to clash with it again.

But then all off a sudden, the monster thrust its head backwards and let out an ear-piercing shriek.

It rang across the entirety of the mainland, cracking and shattering every single window.

Even Kairi and the others were forced to cover their eardrums that were ringing like a bell.

As they watched, the daemon started thrashing all about, and began stumbling around in a circular pattern.

As it exposed its back to Kairi, she quickly saw why it was doing this all of a sudden. Her eyes widened at the sight of a circular object sticking out of the spider thing's back.

It looked like a chakram. A _very_ familiar chakram.

Only one person would ever use it.

Kairi looked ahead behind the daemon, to catch sight of a familiar tall and lanky redhead, with his arm still outstretched from having thrown his chakram.

"Lea?!" she called out in surprise.

Acknowledging her with his signature grin, Lea greeted back, "Yo Kairi! Long time no see!"

"What are you doing here?" Kairi asked aloud.

"I think answers can be saved for later." Came another familiar voice. One that Kairi instantly froze at.

With a small gasp, Kairi slowly turned around, to see a blonde girl who bore her exact image helping Tidus and Selphie to their feet.

"Naminé..." she muttered softly.

Her Nobody was here too?

This day was getting crazier by the minute!

Giving her Somebody a smile, Naminé waved a hand at both Tidus and Selphie.

Both teens gasped as a green hue enveloped them both.

"Wow... I feel as good as new!" Tidus remarked knowingly as he stetched out his arms.

Naminé nodded her head, "Cure tends to work like that."

"Still doesn't help with how I even handle this thing..." Selphie grumbled under her breath, directing accusing eyes at her nunchucks like they did something wrong by her.

Tidus rolled his eyes at her, "Work that out later, Selph. Right now, just improvise."

Selphie stared hard at him, "Like how you "improvised" during that one blitzball game?"

"Excuse me? Sorry if I'm butting in, but could someone lend me a hand with this thing?" Lea called out as he continued engaging the daemon with his two chakrams in one hand, and his Keyblade in the other.

Refocused on the task at hand, Kairi nodded her head as Terra casted a Cura spell on them both.

"Alright! Naminé, stay clear of the area. The rest of us, take this thing down!" she instructed.

Everyone else nodded... except for Naminé for some reason, but Kairi was unaware of it.

"Let's get nuts!" Tidus shouted, and with that single phrase everyone charged right in.

Chaos ensued once more.

Since she had a bit of experience working with Lea, Kairi decided to back him up. The Keyblade wielders went all out with their various moves and spell attacks.

Terra provided support from the air as she slashed at the monster's head with her sword and shot out barrage after barrage of magic. And whenever she caught sight of others needing a bit of assistance, she swooped down to their side and fought with them.

Despite the added support of Lea however, the monster continued to hold out ferociously as well.

It was so lethal and precise in its strikes that the number of Cure spells used were almost off the charts. Tidus and Selphie having the most ones casted on themselves.

And Kairi really couldn't blame them. This was their first bout against a creature of darkness after all, and they had willingly threw away their chance of fleeing and staying safe.

Just because they wanted to be at her side.

If Sora was here, he'd probably either shed a tear or be downright furious and terrified to see his friends in danger.

As she did a backflip to avoid a lone bolt of lightning snaking across the ground, Lea huffed and puffed as he wiped some sweat from his forehead beside her.

"So... life of a party, eh?" he remarked to her wryly as she landed on her knees.

Narrowing her eyes at the spider woman, Kairi gritted her teeth, "Hardly the time for jokes, Lea..."

"C'mon! What fun is a fight if you can't make lightheartedness of the situation once in a while?" Lea said with a wag of his finger, "That's rule number one in my book!"

"Oh really? Then here's my rule number one... ... GO ALL IN!"

With a sudden burst of energy, Kairi raced over towards the monster's spider legs.

Deep inside of her, the light of her heart poured out and flowed through her veins, amplifying her powers, and strengthening her connection to the Kingdom Key. Unbeknownst to her and to the surprise of the others, her body began to glow in a white aura, and the Keyblade began glowing as well in light blue colours.

With a loud cry, Kairi shot up into the air and pointed the Keyblade right at the daemon.

"Ragnarok!" she cried out and from the tip of Kingdom Key, she fired out a huge cluster of light projectiles.

Like missles, they shot right at the daemon and exploded in fiery fashion.

The spider woman shrieked in agonised fury and it struggled to defend itself from the onslaught.

Seeing that it was distracted, Lea angled his Keyblade, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

His eyes darting over to Tidus on the other end, he called out, "Yo kid! Let's put this arachnid chick outta its misery!"

Wiping a bit of blood from his nose, Tidus grinned and nodded his head. Twirling his blue sword, he let out a war cry and ran at top speed towards the daemon. Lea from his end also began charging straight towards it. Both fighters closed the distance between one another, and when they were close enough to the daemon, they leapt right into the air with their weapons held up high.

"Gyah!" Lea yelled out.

"HOME RUN!" Tidus hollered out.

They brought down their swords upon the daemon, slicing right through it cleanly.

As they all watched, the spider woman stumbled slightly... before it fell apart into two halves, effectively allowing all its innards and the remains of its human victims to all spill out onto the ground.

Selphie looked almost sick and felt her breakfast rising up her throat.

Terra and Kairi looked slightly disturbed by the sight.

Lea and Tidus however ignored the gruesome aspects and they marvelled at their own handy work.

"Woah... I didn't think I had it in me..." he breathed softly in amazement.

Lea willed away his Keyblade and gave Tidus a pat on the shoulder.

"You got a lot of potential, man," he remarked with a smile that somehow appeared weaker than his usual ones.

Tidus however did not notice it and he said, "That's what I've been thinking too! I knew there was somethin else destined for me besides the Destiny Abes!"

Leaving the teen to ramble on about his so-called achievement, Lea turned his attention over to Kairi who was dusting herself off from the battle.

"How've you been, Kairi?" he asked her.

Kairi shrugged her shoulders, "Nothing much happened. School was boring, and getting high grades as usual. That was... until what happened yesterday."

Lea raised an eyebrow at this.

Wrapping her hands around her stomach, Kairi let out a deep and tired sigh.

"People started to disappear from the Island and the mainland," she muttered out weakly, "Lost a lot of people I cared about too."

Lea choked back a gasp, "So it's happened to you too?!"

Kairi spun her head at him, alerted to his sudden change in tone.

"What do you mean?" she asked anxiously.

Lea folded his hands and scrunched up his face into a dark frown.

"People have been disappearing from Twilight Town as well! It just... happened so suddenly! I didn't know how to react to it!"

Kairi's eyes went wide at this.

So Sora's suspicions and what Terra had said about the other worlds were true!

But then another thought came to mind.

"And Roxas and Xion? What happened to them? I thought they were with you?" Lea's expression faltered quickly upon the mentioning of his two friends.

He closed his eyes tightly and sighed despondently.

Judging from this alone, Kairi already had a feeling what his answer was going to be. She dreaded his next words.

"Roxas and Xion... they're amongst the casualties... disappeared before my eyes. Naminé and I were the only ones to survive it..."

Kairi stared at him in shock and horror at the revelation sunk in. Her heart began to ache painfully as grief and sorrow seeped into her thoughts.

Roxas and Xion were gone. Dead. No longer amongst the living. And after all Sora had been through just to give them their own chance at life.

On the inside, she felt angry and furious. All because everything that Sora did and sacrificed for them had amounted to nothing.

Absolutely _nothing_.

Both former Organization members barely even had a chance to live properly before they met their untimely ends. And from the look on Lea's face, she could sense he was feeling the same thing, only ten times more furious.

Haven't they all suffered enough for one life?

Shaking off the dark thoughts, Lea then asked her, "Anyways, Naminé and I came here to find Sora. Y'know where he is by any chance?"

It was Kairi's turn to act emotional at the mentioning of her friend. But this time she chose not to dwell on the mourning part. She already had enough of that last night.

Forlornly, she lifted up her hand and summoned Kingdom Key.

Lea stared down at it, recognised the signature weapon that was Sora's. At first he was confused by this action, but then slowly and gradually, he put two and two together.

If Kairi had the Kingdom Key... then that would mean...

He wanted to deny it, but the sadness on Kairi's face spoke out in volumes.

His mouth gaped open in horror.

"Um... guys?" Selphie's voice suddenly called out fearfully, "... we've got problems..."

Everyone all turned around to where the teen was pointing at. Much to their growing horror, there was a huge horde of daemons that were galloping their way towards them from the direction of the city.

Every single one of them were as menacing and disgusting as the spider woman. And many of them were five times bigger than it. Hulking brutes carrying huge swords that burned with flames.

Tidus gulped down a huge lump in his throat, "Okay... I think I wanna run and hide now..."

Selphie held up her nunchucks in a defensive pose, "... Might be too late for that..."

As the horde got closer and closer, Kairi breathed out deeply and alongside the others, stood at the ready. No matter what, she was going to stand her ground, until her dying breath if it came down to it.

Suddenly, there came the movement of flat footsteps from behind.

Kairi's eyes widened slightly.

She knew those special sound of padded feet anywhere.

Turning around with the others, Kairi watched as a familiar white-feathered, battle-ready duck mage raced past them with a determined look and his staff in his hand.

Glaring down the daemons with such ferocity that would rival in comparison to Saïx's Berserker mood, Donald Duck lifted his staff high into the air.

"Defend!" he quacked out and within seconds, a huge magical glass barrier emerged.

It spanned across the entire distance of the sector from one end to the other effectively cutting it off from the rest of the mainland and acting as a great wall against the oncoming monsters.

As the daemons began pounding away at the protective shell, the mage turned around to the others. He almost ignored the shocked expressions of Tidus and Selphie.

"Come on! We gotta move!" he exclaimed hastily.

"Donald? What are you doing here?" Kairi stepped forth and questioned him, not acknowledging his words immediately.

Donald frowned at her, "We can talk and catch up someplace else! Where there aren't any of this guys botherin' us!"

He gestured to the daemons behind him.

"But what about the townsfolk?"

"Forget about them! Destiny Islands is lost! These palookas have completed overrun your world!"

There was a loud creaking sound, and they all looked on as cracks began to develop on the glass.

The daemons were attacking the barrier so much force, the shell was starting to succumb to the pressure. It was only a matter time before it buckled and collapsed.

"The shield won't hold forever!" Donald stated worriedly, "Come on! Let's get a move on! Gummi Ship's thataway!"

He led the way towards the main road.

"All in favour of following a talking duck say "aye!"" Tidus spoke up.

Selphie nodded her head, "Aye aye!"

The duo raced on ahead after the mage. Lea nodded to Naminé and the blonde sprinted off after them a second later.

Terra and Lea started moving off as well, but then the latter noticed Kairi running in the opposite direction.

"Um Kairi? Now's not the time for stubborn heroism!" he called out after her anxiously.

Terra too had stopped and looked over her shoulder to the Princess.

"Where are you going?!" she cried out worriedly.

Kairi halted in her running and shouted back at the pair, "My house! If I can't save the people, at least let me bring my grandma along! I've been alone without her for so long because of the Heartless, and I'm not going to lose her again to the daemons!"

Without another word, she raced off again, ignoring the calls of Lea.

Growling under his breath in annoyance, Lea muttered, "I swear that kid's as stubborn as Sora..."

Looking over to Terra, he said, "I haven't met you for that long, but ya think you can get the Gummi Ship over to her place?"

Terra nodded her head, "Of course. I will inform the duck mage promptly. Just make sure Kairi's safe."

Lea nodded back, "I'll send a signal flare into the sky once I reach her house."

And with that, the two parted ways, with Lea racing as fast as his legs would carry him after Kairi.

It took no less than five minutes later that he had arrived at Kairi's house. He took noticed of the front door that had been left wide open. Seems like the Princess had little time for house rules since they were on the clock.

Raising up his hand, he shot up a lone fireball into the sky.

It caught the attention of Donald Duck who had just arrived back at the Gummi Ship. Parked close to the shore, he pulled out a set of keys from his pockets and raced over to the door. Naminé was right behind him, followed by Selphie and Tidus whom were marvelling at the spaceship in awe.

And then came Terra who brought up the rear.

"Duck mage! Kairi's gone back to her house to retrieve her grandmother!" she informed him.

The mage simply sighed in disbelief, "Of course..."

"And Lea went after her. He said he would send up a signal flare to-"

"I know," Donald cut her off and pointed up to the sky.

Terra followed his gaze to the fireball in the sky. A second later and it exploded like fireworks. Finally founding the key to the door, Donald jammed it into the hole and twisted the knob unlocked.

Kicking the door open, he called to the rest, "All aboard!"

Unbeknownst to all of them however, the daemons had also caught sight of the fireball. The moment it exploded, it casted a brief flash that made them flinch in pain. Hissing furiously, they began clawing at the barrier again, and pieces of glasses began to fall from it.

Meanwhile, Lea continued standing guard at the entrance while inside, Kairi slowly and carefully guided her grandmother out of the living room.

"... so, so sorry I forgot about you!" the redhead was apologising profusely, "There was the fight going on that I got so caught up! I was almost about to leave you behind too!"

Her grandmother smiled weakly at her, "You didn't have to come all the way back here to rescue me, Kairi. I've lived my life. Just leave me. Before it's too late for you too."

Kairi shook her head, "Don't say that! You mean so much to me too! If anything happened to you I'll never forgive myself! Either we live, or we go out together!"

Eventually, they arrived at the front door. And Kairi caught sight of Lea standing there with his Keyblade in his hand, as she had half-expected.

Noticing her arrival, he remarked, "Sure took your sweet time, didn't ya? I was starting to think the daemons had ambushed you!"

His eyes then turned towards the elderly woman. "And I take this is your grandma?"

Kairi nodded her head in confirmation.

Standing right before Mdm Umi, he greeted her, "Good to see you, Kairi's grandma. My name is Lea."

Kairi felt it weird to hear the other redhead introduce himself in a more gentleman-like way. Probably due to the fact that he was interacting with an elder person.

Nodding her head, Mdm Umi acknowledged, "Yes. Good to meet you at last, Mr Lea. My granddaughter here and Sora have both spoken highly of you from time to time."

Lea's ears perked up at that, "Really?"

He glanced over to Kairi and she smiled with a shrug her shoulders.

"Don't worry. It's all the good stuff," she assured him.

Lea chuckled softly, "You kidding? I've got loads of good things that people out there talk about!"

"Aside from the fangirls swooning whenever they see you? Or so Xion keeps telling me on the Gummiphone?"

"... Like I said, loads of stuff!"

Suddenly, a loud explosion rocked the earth.

Lea and Kairi stumbled slightly whilst Mdm Umi almost completely lost balance.

She could have fallen were it not for the support of the door frame she was leaning against.

And then came sounds of growling, snapping jaws and destruction of nearby property.

"Any bets that wasn't those things getting through?" Lea quipped worriedly.

Kairi shook her head, "Nope."

Summoning Kingdom Key, she and Lea took a few steps forwards and prepared themselves for another bout.

Calling over her shoulder to her grandmother, Kairi instructed, "Grandma, stay there! We'll take care of this!"

And then seconds later, the first of the daemons arrived.

Together the two Keyblade wielders worked together, cutting through any monsters that headed their way.

The situation was manageable, considering that most of the daemons so far were just goblins that they could just kick away easily.

But Kairi knew that there were big ones as well, and chances are they were not that far behind.

Thankfully, they did not have to hold out long as three minutes later, Lea spotted something in the air.

"Here comes our ride!" he exclaimed.

Kairi smiled with relief as she too caught sight of the Gummi Ship slowly descending from the sky.

_"BOOM!"_

Both wielders spun around in alarm as one of the bigger daemons began lumbering its way over to them.

"Okay... chances of survival are severely dwindling..." Kairi gulped as she and Lea slowly backed away.

"Gee, I wonder what gave that away," Lea sarcastically replied back as he held up his Keyblade defensively.

Behind them, Mdm Umi started becoming a lot more worried about the situation given the sudden turn of events. Not because she was thinking of her own well-being, but because she was thinking about that of her granddaughter as well as her friend.

High up above, everyone from the cockpit could easily witness what was happening below them.

After having directed Donald where Kairi's house was minutes prior, Selphie quickly spotted her friend, Mdm Umi, and as well as that tall handsome guy that was with her.

"There they are!" she exclaimed and pointed with an index finger.

And then they saw the giant stomping towards them.

"Those things just keep on gettin' bigger!" Tidus cried out in alarm.

From the window, Tidus turned his attention over to Donald. "Yo, duck man! Park this bird!"

Donald however, only shook his head, "No way!"

Selphie whirled on him, a stupefied look on her face.

"What do you mean "NO WAY"?!" she snapped in disbelief, "Aren't you forgetting that teensy weensy little fact that, oh I don't know... KAIRI and her grandma and that handsome hunk are in danger down there?!"

Donald sent an angry glower at her, "And aren't ya forgettin' that teensy weensy fact that there are a whole lotta monsters down there with 'em?!"

He angled the Gummi Ship slightly and pointed with a finger.

True enough, there was a neverending flow of daemons that were sweeping all across Destiny Islands.

But that did not dissuade Selphie though.

"So _what?!_ That shouldn't stop you from saving a friend of Sora's, no?! I mean, what do you think he would feel if he heard that Kairi perished because you neglected to save her?!"

Donald's face reddened slightly, and Naminé and Terra both thought they saw a bit of vein popping out.

Selphie's comment clearly had been a low blow, whether or not she realised it.

"Ya think I don't wanna save Kairi, ya big palooka?!" he exclaimed out loud, his temper reaching a breaking point, "I had a point I was tryin' to get across, which I could've gotten to by now if ya hadn't started blowing fire on my tail feathers and wasting everybody's time!"

Selphie clearly wasn't buying any of that but Tidus placed a hand on her shoulder before she could poke the duck further.

After taking a few steady breaths to calm himself, Donald spoke out seriously, "Ya wanna save Kairi, you jump from here."

_"What?!" _Tidus and Selphie exclaimed horrifically.

The duck mage sighed and pinched in-between his eyes, "It's the only way to spare the Gummi Ship from the attacks of those things. Regardless of minor or major damage, I can't risk losing the space-worthy factor or else we're all stuck here."

All the teens fell silent, considering the logic of this move.

Hopping out from the pilot's seat, Donald raced out into the main lobby of the ship. There, he grabbed a handful of items that were all laid out inside one of the cupboards. Running back to the cockpit, he handed them over to Tidus and Selphie.

"Here! These Grav-Con Units will help ya stick the landings a lil' better!" he said with a point at the devices, "And then the Gummi earpieces to stay in touch!"

Which look more like glorified candy decorations than communication devices. With plain shrugs, Tidus and Selphie put them on whilst Terra peered over curiously to look at the Grav-Con Units.

Donald then turned his attention to the green-haired and Naminé.

"Naminé, you stay here with me! And you um... what's your name...?" Terra smiled cheerfully at the duck mage, "Terra Branford."

Donald stared at her.

She sighed, "I know... same name as one of your other allies."

Behind them, Tidus and Selphie continued to fiddle with their Units, unsure as to how to make them work.

"Come on... stupid thing..." Selphie hissed through gritted teeth.

If there was one thing she had to agree with the duck, it was that Kairi was not going to last much longer down there.

She took another worried glance down below.

Kairi was still holding her ground well with her ally, but it was clear that fatigue was starting to catch on. Not to mention that the daemons were slowly closing in from all sides. No avenue to escape.

Just then, she heard a snap of fingers and a cry of joy.

She turned to look in surprised awe as Tidus was suddenly covered all over in a sparkling light-blue glow.

Oh, and he was floating too.

Wait... WHAT?!

"Whoo hoo! Look at me!" Tidus whooped with a pumped up fist, "I'm a superhero!"

Donald quacked aloud in terror as the teen started flying in circles all around the cockpit. Everyone else squealed in fright and ducked their heads down.

"Knock it off, will ya?!" Donald chided Tidus with raised fists, "We gotta get movin' to save Kairi and Lea!"

"And her grandma too!" Selphie chimed in.

Racing over to the controls, the duck mage began flipping some switches.

"I'm opening the ramp now! Best of luck out there!" he said hastily.

With sharp nods, Terra, Tidus and Selphie ran all the way over towards the other end of the Gummi Ship.

There, they came to a halt as the ramp dropped down fully, allowing a gust of wind to billow in and out of the hull.

_"Testing! Testing! Can ya fellas here me?" _Donald's voice crackled through the earpieces.

Holding up a finger to it, Tidus replied back, "Could ya speak up a little? I can't understand what you're saying."

This naturally, sparked another Donald-type tirade, but the frequency was still rather weak, so both Tidus and Selphie did not know what he was saying cleary.

Off to one side, Terra stared at the pair anxiously.

"So what is he saying?" she asked.

Selphie shrugged her shoulders, "No clue at all. What do you think, Tidus?"

Logically, he gave the only answer he could muster up.

"Quack quack quack."

_"Just get a move on already!"_

"Alright, jeez! No need to ruffle your feathers!" Selphie exclaimed exasperated as she headed over to the ramp.

But then she stiffened and froze in place. What was this sinking feeling that was rising up from within her?

Oh that's right.

She suddenly remembered she had an insane fear of heights.

... crap...

"Um..." Selphie mumbled nervously to herself.

Tidus rolled his eyes with a groan. They didn't have time for this! He marched over and gave her a "gentle" nudge.

"WAAAHHHH...!" Selphie cried out as she stumbled and fell out through the opening.

Wide-eyed by this, Terra instinctively flew out right after her, followed by Tidus seconds later who hollered out, "GERONIMOOOOO!"

His cry echoed far and wide across the air, until it was picked up by Kairi and Lea who both looked up to the sky.

To say that Kairi was horrified that her friends were tumbling from the sky, was an understatement.

"Those idiots! What're they doing?!" she cried out in enraged terror.

Lea raised an eyebrow at this, "Sora becomes a Heartless? No. Riku accepting the darkness and posing as Ansem? Pass. But your friends falling out of the sky? _That_ ticks you off?"

Ignoring his comment, Kairi fired off another Fire spell at a approaching goblin. It hit the thing square in the chest and sent it flying back into a bigger group. They all go down like bowling pins.

And then the huge giant was close enough to make its first move. It swung the huge sword in a wide slash, forcing both wielders to jump backwards. And then it proceeded to plunge it right into the ground, causing tall flames to erupt right at them.

Kairi and Lea barely managed to roll out of the way on opposite ends of the flames, and then the latter inspected them.

"Hey! Quit stealin' my gig! Tall and scary flames are _my_ thing!" he shouted pointedly up to the giant.

With a loud yell, he exhanged his Keyblade for his chakrams, now coated in flames, and hurled them straight at the giant's head.

Back up in the air, Selphie was tumbling and tumbling down to earth like a hurtling meteor. Her arms were outstretched and flailing wildly and she continued to scream the whole way down. It felt like an eternity, and she was just wishing for the torture to end.

But then her momentum suddenly halted, and she felt a pressure on around her body.

Selphie blinked in surprise as Terra with her arms wrapped around her tightly, carried her all the way over to Tidus who was floating close by with his Grav-Con Unit activated.

Noting the awkward position Terra and Selphie were in, Tidus folded his arms and remarked, "Now _that's_ a sight I thought I'd never see."

Selphie glared at him, as she fought against the red that was flushing her cheeks in embarassment. Terra on the other hand simply stared at the blonde in mild confusion, like she did not know what he was talking about.

"Just tell me how you activated that gravity thingie!" Selphie snapped at him.

The sooner she got past this, the shorter and weaker the impact it would have.

Tidus shrugged, "Easy. I just snapped my fingers."

His friend raised a skeptical brow.

Wait, that was it?!

There had to be more complicated steps to it!

But knowing the smug look on his face, Selphie knew she was going to have to go on blind faith with this one.

Sighing in resignation, she raised a hand and snapped her fingers. All of a sudden, the Unit in her hand activated and she too was now covered in the same glow as Tidus.

Terra quickly released her grip and flew a few metres back.

Instinctively, Selphie reached out to her for support, but then she paused.

"Wait a minute..." she looked all around her as she floated in place.

And then she looked down. The ground looked so far away from up here. And then a thought hit her. She looked to both Tidus and Terra in distraught.

"I'm not wearing my shorts! My skirt's gonna billow up here!"

Tidus made a facepalm.

All of a sudden, there was a wave of flames shooting right past them.

The three teens reeled back in alarm and panic before darting their eyes down to the ground.

They caught sight of the tall redhead glaring up at them, and the huge two words written in firey flames on the pavement.

"**HELPING US?**"

Tidus' eyes widened fearfully, "Heh... talk about sending a message."

"Come on!" Terra shouted out and she swooped downwards to engage the daemonic hordes head-on.

With their own weapons in hand, Tidus and Selphie shot right off after her.

As the trio held off the oncoming hordes, Kairi and Lea continued to push back against any daemon that came within close range. All the while Mdm Umi was watching like a bystander with sheer amazement and wonder at how her beloved granddaughter was able to hold her own.

As time dragged on however, fatigue and inexperience started to weigh upon everybody's shoulders.

Selphie had to be healed multiple times, and Tidus was constantly disarmed which left him on the defensive. Kairi too was starting to feel the burning sensation in her muscles.

The only ones still putting up a great effort were Lea and Terra, but eventually even they would begin tiring out.

From her place inside the cockpit, Naminé grew ever more worried and fearful for the safety of her allies. And Donald, well he was at least trying to stay positive through the whole ordeal.

But that was when the blonde turned and sped right off.

"Wack?!" Donald quacked out in surprise as he looked over his seat.

Pulling the entrance door open, Naminé peered down below to all the chaos that was happening.

Her blue eyes narrowed in frustration. If there was one thing she had in common with Kairi, it was being frequently sidelined and feeling weak. And unknown to her, she too had inherited Kairi's resolve to step up to the plate.

"No more..." she thought as she raised a palm.

She felt a surge of power course through her body, almost at the same rate as Kairi's.

With a deep breath, she cried out at the top of her lungs, "THUNDER!"

In a flash of light, a huge bolt shot from her hand, and snaked all the down to the battlefield.

It struck home on a group of goblins that had Selphie surrounded in front of a wall. Crying out in surprise, the teen looked upwards to the Gummi Ship, where more bursts of lightning began shooting downwards.

Thanks to the electrical bombardment, Tidus had enough breathing room to make a run for his sword and head off towards Kairi and Lea.

From the air, Terra watched as the lightning bolts single out numerous groups of daemons, effectively making them huge targets.

Conjuring up energy orbs, she started hurling them straight at the groups. They exploded with the force of a hundred bombs, causing daemon parts to fly everywhere.

With the horde thinned out, Terra proceeded to shoot down ice down at the pavement. From there, she started moving her hands upwards, causing the ice to form and create a vertical wall. She moved about, slowly barricading the entire district in a tall, encircle barrier, effectively cutting them off from the rest of the daemons.

Her work done, Terra flew right towards Kairi's house, where everyone else met up.

Marvelling at the wall all around them, Lea remarked, "Nice job, Terra."

Terra smiled back in acknowledgement.

Meanwhile Tidus and Selphie were almost completely exhausted, their strengths drained from the fight.

"Man... I'm beat..." Tidus panted out breathlessly.

Selphie placed her hands on her knees, "Haven't been so out of breath... since that marathon in primary school..."

"Oh yeah, you were so tired you actually collasped," Kairi reminisced softly with a soft small.

Selphie waved a nochalant hand, "Nah... I just needed some sleep."

"In the middle of hundreds of other runners?" Tidus asked with a taunting smirk.

The teen glared back at him.

Just then, Donald called over the radio, _"Alright ya palookas, knock it off! I'm bringin' the Gummi Ship down to you! Prepare for a quick boarding!"_

"Roger that!" Tidus replied chirpily.

Turning to the others, he relayed, "The duck man's making a touchdown. Get ready to board."

Nodding her head, Kairi willed away her Keyblade and raced back over to her grandmother.

Taking her gently by the arms, she asked softly, "You okay, grandma?"

Mdm Umi smiled warmly back at her, "My... you never told me you could defend yourself like that."

Kairi shrugged, "I'd like to think of it as an "offensive defence", but yeah, I had some training."

Selphie rushed in from behind to give Mdm Umi extra support.

Soon, the Gummi Ship had landed, with Naminé at the front door to greet them.

"Come on!" she urged all of them and gestured with her hand.

"All aboard!" Lea shouted as he and Tidus headed up first.

Behind them, Kairi and Selphie slowly and carefully led Mdm Umi up the steps and into the Gummi Ship.

Once everyone was in, Kairi moved to close the door behind them.

And then she froze.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she caught sight of one more familiar figure slowly limping towards them.

Her body was battered and bruised, and her long raven hair was slightly caked in dirt and blood.

"Got any room for one more?" the woman greeted her with a pained smile.

"Tifa!" Kairi exclaimed in surprise.

From the cockpit, Donald impatiently shouted from his seat, "Hey! What's the hold-up back there?! Those things will be back any minute now!"

Turning over her shoulder, Kairi replied back, "We've got one more survivor! I'm letting her aboard!"

Donald opened his mouth to protest, but then he thought better of it.

"Just pull her aboard now! Quickly!"

Looking back to Tifa, Kairi simply shrugged her shoulders, "Sorry. Our pilot's a bit cranky right now. Hope you don't mind."

Tifa shook her head politely even though there was a faint smile of amusement on her lips. "I've seen worse rants from Cid."

She quickly hopped aboard, and once the door was sealed tight, Kairi shouted down to the cockpit, "We're all clear!"

Nodding his head, Lea relayed the message to Donald, "Let's get the heck outta here!"

Donald narrowed his eyes in focus and he activated the thrusters. Before they knew it, the Gummi Ship took off and began flying up high into the air, away from the daemons as they broke through the ice barrier.

Whilst Terra and Tifa helped Mdm Umi get strapped into one of the chairs, the Destiny Island teens had all huddled together, watching as the daemons laid waste to every single area of the mainland.

Kairi's heart shattered further as she helplessly witnessed her own home collapse unto itself from constant damage by the daemons.

Woth a shaky sigh and tears forming at the corners of her eyes, Kairi lowered her head mournfully and let out a sob. If Sora and Riku's demise hadn't destroyed her completely, the loss of her home surely did.

Equally as saddened by the loss, Tidus and Selphie wrapped their arms around Kairi, and the trio shared a moment of silence to grieve over the pain and everything that they had lost.

From the side, Lea could not help but feel sorry for their phlight.

For him, the last time he felt a sense of loss and grief was when the Heartless overran Radiant Garden. But for Kairi, from what Aqua had confided with him, this was actually the second time she was experiencing this. Unfortunately however, the poor girl had no memory of what happened back then.

If she had retained at least some bits and pieces, he could imagine her feeling the same way back then as she was now. And then he suddenly imagined himself in that same position as with Roxas and Xion. If onrly those two were here. They would know how to pull him out of another emotional hellhole.

Soon, the Gummi Ship had broken through the protective barrier surrounding Destiny Islands, and the darkened sky was quickly replaced with thousands of stars that twinkled all around them.

Everyone would have stopped to marvel in awe at the astronomical sight before them, but most were too caught up in their grief to do anything else.

With a heavy sigh, Donald switched the ship's mechanics over to autopilot mode, and then he fell back against his seat, tiredness also beginning to set in for him.

Whatever this problem was, it was clear that the entire universe was being affected in more ways than just one.

And without the King, the other Keyblade wielders, and Sora for that matter... he wasn't sure if anything could be done.

Heck, he wasn't even sure if things would get better from here on out.


	5. Chapter IV

**Sora: Oh, hey there you guys! Great to see you again! How's everyone doing?**

**Kairi: Apologies that the writer can't be here to welcome you today. He's currently... busy with something over there...**

**(Points to the corner of a wall, where a figure hidden in the shadows is clearly crying to himself)**

**Naminé: I think he's crying.**

**Sora: Yeah, something about feeling guilty about making our readers waiting so long for this chapter.**

**Roxas: But I don't get it. How's three weeks that long?**

**Riku: You don't get out much, do you Roxas? Three weeks is equal to ten years of Internet time.**

**Xion: Well, to be fair to the writer, he does have a lot on his plate. **

**Sora: Agreed. Kind of like what Kairi's currently going through in this story.**

**Kairi: Speaking of which, the writer hopes this chapter makes up for all the wait, regardless of how short it is. Please don't hate him!**

* * *

The Gummi Ship soared its way across the far reaches of the cosmos, and with no ending in sight. With their tails between their legs, everyone on board was putting as much distance as possible from all the anarchy that befelled Destiny Islands.

And despite the fact that they were all in the clear, the atmosphere in the cockpit still remained tense. Her tears having been quickly spent, Kairi wordlessly eyed Lea as he, Terra and Donald discussed their next move.

"So let me get this straight, your home world's got gotten too?" Lea questioned Donald in complete disbelief, "And what about the King?"

"Gone too," Donald muttered with folded arms and a shaking head, "So are Goofy... a-and my nephews..."

A pained look crossed his face and his eyes closed tightly. He tried to stamp out the reminder of how he founded Huey, Dewey and Louie's ashes when he got home from the Castle.

Taking pity on the duck mage, Terra said in a saddened tone, "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Bah..." Donald tried to wave it off casually, "Think nothin' of it toots. It's my burden to bear alone."

"More like a universal burden now," Lea spoke up, "Destiny Islands, Twilight Town and Disney Town? This can't be a coincidence."

"It's like I said to Princess Kairi earlier," Terra stated, "Something has been happening across all the worlds. The light of life forces everywhere are suddenly flickering out."

Taking this in mind, Lea suddenly turned to give her unapproving frowns, much to the apprentice's confusion.

"Is that so, kid? Y'know, that would've been helpful info like 5 minutes ago," he said.

Timidly, Terra fumbled with a loose strand of her hair.

"S-Sorry..." she mumbled out.

Donald glared up at the redhead and chided, "Knock it off, Lea! Be fair to her! We were in the middle of a battle!"

Both males stared heatedly at one another in what would probably be one of the most tense staring contests of all time.

Expressionless, Kairi sat up from her seat and went over to the main lobby of the ship. Here, she headed over to the side wall and sat down against it, with her back perfectly straightened.

Here, she stayed in total radio silence. Her thoughts dwelling over the events that had happened.

Destiny Islands. The world she had grew up on. It had been invaded. Overrun. Conquered. By a horde of monsters they couldn't stop. A horde that had proven to be more powerful than the Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed combined.

To be fair, Tidus and Selphie were still relatively new to the whole fighting gig, and she was still merely a novice. But then there was Lea, a former member of Organization XIII who specialised in killing off others if he wanted to. And then there was Terra, a magic user who was about three times more effective in combat than she was.

Even with both on their team, it still wasn't enough to hold back all those daemons that just seemed to keep on coming like a megatsunami. Heck, she was also ready to bet that if Sora and all the other Keyblade wielders were still around, they'd still wouldn't be enough to wipe them all out!

Letting loose a shaky sigh, Kairi curled up her legs once more into a fetal position. She wrapped her arms around them and buried her face into her knees. Now covered up, she allowed newly formed tears to start flowing from her eyes, and her sobs and cries muffled out, enough to not let the others hear her.

That's good, she thought. She deserved to wallow in her pity alone. After all the things she had been put through, she deserved to be loathed for all of her failures and broken promises.

Thoughts of her own death, her friends' disintegrating, the woman being eaten alive and her house getting destroyed replayed in her mind over and over again.

She imagined voices in her head that began assaulting her with dark thoughts, ridiculing her and tormenting her to no end.

_"You don't deserve to exist Kairi."_

_"You just waste everybody's time!"_

_"You easily let others put yourself and your friends in danger!"_

"You get kidnapped most of the time!"

_"You don't deserve to be a Princess of Heart!"_

_"You're worthless! A failure!"_

_"You're USELESS!"_

**"Not to me. Not to me... young one..."**

Wait a minute, she didn't imagine that last one! What was that voice speaking to her?! Why did it sound so... _soothing and comforting?_

**"Not to me...** Kairi?"

Gasping sharply, Kairi tore her head from her knees and jerked slightly in shock. At the same time she also heard a small gasp coming from beside her.

With eyes wide as saucers, she gazed over at Naminé, who was reeling back slightly from her with a hand slightly in a protective stance in front of her.

Sagging her shoulders and letting out a shaky breath, Kairi croaked out, "Naminé... it's just you..."

Composing herself from that abrupt awakening, the blonde moved closer to her Somebody.

With a look of concern, she asked her gently, "Are you okay Kairi?"

Kairi lowered her eyes to the ground.

"Don't worry about me. I just need time to get over some things..." she assured with a weak smile.

A lie. That was an absolute lie and she knew it.

It would take over a trillion munny's worth of psycho therapy to even make her feel like a fraction her old self again. Little wonder why Naminé decided to call her out on it.

"I become very worried when someone says "don't worry about me"."

Kairi rested her head on her knee caps and fell very silent. Her body aching at the sight of her predicament, Naminé decided to sit down right beside Kairi and scooted close to her.

"We haven't seen you much since we left... that place..." she tried to explain without making Kairi feel more miserable than she already was.

Kairi slightly glanced at her, "Like I said... I wanted some time alone..."

Naminé however, clearly still wasn't buying it.

Being her Nobody, she knew everything made Kairi Kairi. Her emotions, her fears, her thoughts. She could read Kairi easily like a picture book, better than anyone else. Even Sora. In a way, she felt more like a twin sister than just a separate person, just like Kairi had mentioned months ago. With a sigh, she reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You can tell me," she offered softly, "You know that, right? I came from you, so you share the burden with me."

Kairi suddenly felt hesitant. As much as she wanted to get her feelings out, she did not want to risk breaking her rule of not imposing on anyone else.

Once more, Naminé could see and sense the uneasiness befalling the redhead teen.

"It's okay Kairi..." she whispered comfortingly, "I've lived through much when I was a part of you, remember? Just let it all out."

That was all the assurance that Kairi needed. Within an instant, all her protective barriers fell apart.

"I'm a despicable human being..." Kairi mumbled out emotionally, "I just can't do anything right... I'm terrible at keep promises... bad at defending myself..."

Her voice slowly began to rise, "Heck, I couldn't even defend my home! I'm useless! Weak! I don't deserve to live after everything that's happened! I had a chance to prove that I was more than just a damsel in distress, and I WASTED it! I allowed Xehanort to kill me right in front of Sora!"

Losing all sense of control and morality, Kairi gripped at the sides of her head hard and unleashed a cry of unchecked rage and torment.

"RAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It was so loud, that it caught the attention of most back in the cockpit.

Keyword: **most**.

Donald and Lea were still tied up in their little staring competition that Tifa was trying to break up.

As emotionally weak as they were, Selphie and Tidus rose from the chairs and began moving over. But then Terra stepped right in front of them and shook her head.

"Getting yourselves involved will only complicate her situation further," she stated calmly, having been aware of Naminé presence in the lobby earlier, "Let Naminé take care of it."

Both teens wanted to protest, but ultimately (and reluctantly) they relented.

As the tears began to flow once more, Kairi sobbed uncontrollably as she buried her head into her legs.

"Sora should have just left my stupid heart to rot in back in the Final World..." she muttered in mental torture, "Maybe my existence in this life was never meant to be, just an anomaly... The worlds are better off without me around..."

Unknowingly, Kairi was starting to lean over to Naminé's side, and the former Nobody reached out to cradle Kairi's body in her arms. Out of sheer instinct, the redhead buried her head into Naminé's chest, her tears partially staining her white dress.

Taking pity on the redhead, Naminé stroked a hand over her head and patted her gently on the arm. As the minutes ticked by, not another word was said, as the blonde all that she could to comfort the weeping Kairi.

After a while though, Naminé was starting to feel a tad bit guilty that she wasn't doing anything else aside from comforting her Somebody like a loving mother.

Shouldn't she be saying something to her?

Kairi was in pain. Deep pain. Riddled by much guilt and anguish that was clearly taking a toll on her emotions and mentality.

But Naminé wasn't really good with cheering someone up.

Sora was a bit of an exception considering how he was constantly jolly and sprightly, in spite of the many hardships he had been through these past two years or so. His personality made it much easier for someone like Naminé to make conversation with.

Even with the fact that she had messed with his memories (against her will of course), he still forgave her. And that struck a cord with her. She was so surprised that Sora was able to forgive her so readily and so easily.

And since then she felt a strong connection with him, despite the fact that he had lost his memories of what happened in Castle Oblivion. Same as how Kairi shared a strong bond with him all these years.

With that in mind, Naminé decided that she needed to channel that bond, and connect more with Kairi. After all, the bond between her Somebody and Sora pretty much ended when the latter met his untimely demise.

Mustering up courage with a steely breath, she slowly spoke out, "You know... Sora wouldn't like hearing those words coming out of you. What would he think if he saw you like this?"

Sniffing slightly, Kairi croaked out, "Sora's dead..."

She sounded much more resigned now, which felt like a punch to the gut for Naminé. That was definitely not a normal Kairi trait.

"... Yes, he gone..." Naminé admitted with a slight wince.

Just mentioning it brought her much grief as it probably brought Kairi, but she couldn't take back those words now, especially since it was the truth.

"... but that doesn't mean that he's _truly_ gone, right?" she continued.

She felt quite uneasy saying that line. Lea had told her sometime ago that it was a clichéd (yet heartfelt) speech that most folks would've used at most funerals and wakes.

Even Kairi was aware of it as she scoffed back slightly, "Yeah, all that talk of "living on inside our hearts" and all that crap... Sora's gone and he's never coming back! And I'm always have to be the helpless one! I'm nothing without Sora! Absolutely **nothing!**"

Her spite was laced with such venom Naminé could almost imagine Kairi spitting and bullying herself. And it pained her even more to see Kairi allow herself to be reduced to such a weakened state.

"No! That's not true!" she argued back, "To Sora, you're the bravest person that he's ever known! And I know it too! I've seen it through his memories and yours!"

Kairi still shook her head in furious denial.

"Lies! All of them! I'm weak! Have been so since I first came to Destiny Islands, and I still will for the rest of my stupid life! I'm USELESS!"

Her sudden outburst of anger stirred something within Naminé as well. Her usual innocent features hardened and her eyes narrowed. Before she even realised what was happening to herself, she took a swipe at Kairi's cheek.

**_SLAP!_**

Kairi gasped and jumped in shock and surprise as the sting hit her cheek. Slowly and instinctively raising a hand to her injury, her widened eyes stared up at Naminé filled with confusion and bewilderment.

As sense took back control of her body, Naminé raised a hand to her mouth, realising what she had just done.

Did she... did she just...?

"N-Naminé..." Kairi murmured under her breath.

Panic and horror reigning on her emotions, Naminé frantically wrapped her arms around her Somebody tightly.

"Oh my g-gods... Kairi, I'm s-so sorry...!" she apologised profusely, "I-I don't know what came... over m-me...!"

This was not how she had wanted this conversation to go! Now she may have only antagonized Kairi more than she was comforting her.

Taking a few moments to compose herself, Kairi slowly started to reach up to grip at Naminé's arms. And then, to the blonde's growing horror, she started to push them away.

"It's okay, Naminé..." she spoke softly to her, albeit feeling more disheartened than ever before, "I just need... to keep myself at arms' length for the time being..."

Then slowly rising to her feet, Kairi turned on her heels and headed off back towards the cockpit. Leaving a sorrowful Naminé to contemplate over her own guilt and actions. Where had she gone wrong with this?

As Kairi arrived back into the cockpit, she quickly caught sight of Lea and Donald still in the heat of their intense staredown. She simply stared on at the two of them wordlessly.

Barely ten minutes had gone by since she had gone, and they still were going at it?

And then Tidus and Selphie noticed them and they got out of their seats.

Brisking over to the redhead, Selphie asked, "You okay, Kai?"

Kairi smiled wryly, "Enough to still care about saving the worlds."

Another lie. She was at an all-time low in her emotional pit.

Tidus stared at her silently, knowing that she wasn't telling the truth. Ultimately however, he let out a sigh and nodded his head.

"Okay. But you remember that if there's anything you're conflicting over, we've always got your back, right?"

"Yes, of course," Kairi replied gratefully, "Thanks you guys."

As she proceeded to move over to tend to her grandmother, Selphie looked back in the direction of the main lobby. Suspiciously, Naminé had yet to return as well, considering that she had went off alone to comfort Kairi.

Seeing that deprived expression on her friend's features, Selphie fretted that things might not have gone so well in-between the two.

Breathing in deeply, she slowly started ambling on out of the cockpit, and then she caught sight of the blonde at the main lobby, sitting where she was at the side of the wall.

Green eyes scrutinised on the posture of her relaxed arms on her laps, her back that was slightly curved over, and her head that was hung low. And then at her shoulders that seemed to be jerking slightly every two seconds.

It took Selphie no less than a few seconds to process what was going on.

She quickly moved over to the blonde and knelt down beside her. Only now at this level could she hear the silent sobs that the poor teen was making.

Placing a gentle hand on Naminé's shoulder, Selphie asked kindly, "Are you alright there?"

Naminé glanced up at the teen, allowing her to view the tears streaming down her face.

"I failed..." she croaked out miserably, "I tried to help Kairi through her pain... but all I did was make it worse..."

Selphie's eyes widened a fraction at this red flag.

"Make it worse...?" she parroted, "What happened? What did you do?"

Naminé sobbed, "I... s-slapped her..."

Selphie paled considerably, obviously caught off-guard by her statement.

Gripping onto her arms tightly, Naminé wailed, "B-But I d-didn't mean to do it...! I-I swear...!"

And then she finally broke down into total weeping.

Seeing her in this state, Selphie took pity on her and wrapped her arms around her gently.

Because Naminé bore the face of her best friend, it also pained Selphie to imagine Kairi being in this exact situation prior to her return.

Understandably, Kairi had been through a lot more things than she ever had. But both the loss of their homeworld as well as Sora had been the ultimate _pièce de résistance_ that did Kairi in.

As she continued to comfort Naminé in the silent corner of the lobby, Selphie wondered how Kairi was going to pull herself back together to help save the rest of the worlds from those daemon things. Sora had entrusted his Key sword weapon to her for a reason after all.

Meanwhile, back at the cockpit, Kairi had settled back down at her seat, and she seemed to be quite fond of simply staring down at the floor now. Mdm Umi, Tidus and Terra were all gazing at her in pity, but she ignored them entirely.

Up ahead, Lea and Donald were still heatedly staring one another down, daring the other to back down. It was an amazing to see that they were able to go on for as long as it did.

It also probably might have lasted an eternity, if it weren't for Tifa quickly stepping in.

"Alright you guys, enough already," she scolded both men calmly as she pushed away from each other, "We all are a little tense right now, and I believe that another fight is the last thing we need right now. So how about we just sit down and relax for a few minutes. Does that sound good?"

Both Donald and Lea refused to acknowledge her.

"That is, unless you want to find out how powerful Final Heaven is?"

Their eyes widened a fraction.

"Yeah..." Lea mumbled under his breath like a reluctant child.

"Wack..." Donald quacked with a backhanded wave as he slid back into the pilot's seat.

Terra Branford strode up to the side, her eyes staring out into the cosmic horizon beyond.

"So ya got a destination in mind, toots?" Donald asked her.

Terra nodded her head, "My Master wants to see Kairi. We should head on back to our world."

"And that being...?"

Terra paused momentarily.

"To be honest, I never quite heard the title of that world. Only that there was a singular tall tower."

Donald's eyes widened. That was all the info he needed to hear. Putting as much efforts as he could into the controls, he punched in the coordinates.

Glancing over behind his shoulders, he hollered out, "Strap yourselves in! We're goin' into Warp Drive!"

Swiftly, everyone began locking their seatbelts. Except for Mdm Umi since she already had hers strapped in when they left Destiny Islands.

Having heard the call from the deck, Selphie's eyes widened. From all the sci-fi movies she had seen, it was safe to say that she and Naminé barely had fifteen seconds at least before the ship went into hyperdrive.

"C'mon! We gotta move!" she said hastily to Naminé, who squeaked out in surprise as she was hauled up to her feet.

Selphie tugged on her arm forcefully as she quickly led the blonde back into the cockpit.

Noticing them both, Tifa signalled them to the two remaining empty seats that were just in front of her.

Selphie quickly sat Naminé down and pulled the seatbelt over her abdomen. Once that was done, she quickly raced over to her seat and strapped herself in.

"Done and done!" she called out with relief and she relaxed against the back rest.

Getting the all-clear thumbs up from Tifa, Donald activated the Warp Gummi.

The engines burst to life anew and Kairi and Naminé aside, everyone watched in awe as the starry sky melded into a hyperspace vortex.

* * *

**Xion: ... Wow... the writer sure took things to a dark place with this one huh?**

**Riku: Yeah... who knew that things were taking a turn for the worse?**

**Lea: Hey guys!**

**(He walks to the others, a piece of paper in hand)**

**Sora: Oh, hey Lea! What's that that you got?**

**Lea: This thing? It's a message from the writer. Instructed me to read it out to the readers before he skedaddled.**

**(Gestures back to the corner where the writer had just been)**

**Naminé: What does it say?**

**(Lea starts reading the message)**

**_Greetings my fellow readers! Sorry for keeping you guys waiting for so long, I've having been quite a rough few weeks! And also, sorry if I'm unable to speak to y'all personally but I've some business to see to with some of our characters that will be appearing in the story. Don't worry though, I'll be back next chapter!_**

**_If you guys are wondering about why I chose this dark direction for the chapter,_****_ well in my opinion, this is how I imagined things would be playing out right after Kairi lost her home. After one traumatising events after another, it'd be natural for her to feel broken and hopeless. To feel that she would be of no worth at all to the worlds, especially after everything she had been through. After everything that has happened since the Snap, things will never be the same again. Hence the reason why Naminé wasn't able to lift Kairi's spirits very easily and instead slapped her. It's a whole new situation that everyone is struggling cope with, and it's something that'll stick with them throughout the story._**

**_The dark thoughts Kairi have in her head, you would recognise as a handful of all the comments KH fans have been making in regards to her arc in the series as of KHIII. This is my intepretation of how those negative comments would be affecting her (Sorry Kairi! Please don't kill me!)._**

**_So when will the next chapter be out? Well, unfortunately, it will come out only after the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home. A certain plot point from the next chapter is tied with a MCU plot point from that movie, and if all things turn out well, then expect an early release. If it doesn't, then the wait could be up until another week or so since I might need to make slight adjustments to it to make it in-line with the MCU lore._**

**_Ah well, that's it for now anyways! See ya when I see ya!_**

**_\- The Writer_**

**Xion: Now that's a bit of a mouthful for a message, isn't it?**

**Roxas: Yeah it is.**

**Sora: So does that mean that we get a bit of a break?**

**Riku: I guess so.**

**Kairi: I kinda admire the writer's decision in going down that dark direction. Things are getting quite hectic in this story, and it's only about to get even worse.**

**Lea: Who knows what's gonna happen next?**

**Naminé: Ooh! Maybe we can discuss it over some sea-salt ice cream?**

**Roxas: Sure! Let's go!**

**Lea: Wait hang on one sec! I think there's one more sentence on this letter.**

_**P.S. You're on guard duty for the rest for the week until I get back Lea. God help you if I hear that Vanitas is caught snooping around again!**_

**Lea: DAMN IT!**


	6. Chapter V

**A/N: Alrighty folks! Here we are with next chapter! Apologies though, the rest of the gang couldn't make it today. Apparently they had too much sea-salt ice cream to eat, and now they've gotten terrible stomachaches. Yeah, probably should've reminded them about eating a lot, but hey it is was it is. **

**Anywho, I've gotten back from watching Spider-Man Far From Home yesterday, and I have to admit, it was awesome, and the effects were kinda descent too. Btw, regarding the major plot point I was talking about? Well, it pretty much went as much as I had expected. Not wanting to give away spoilers but let's be honest, it's a film adaptation that has to be faithful to the comics, so Marvel fans ought to know it was coming. But it was still a good twist in my opinion.**

**Back to the story though, I had a bit of trouble trying to flesh out all the details that you'll later read down below, but I did the best I could for now. If any of you guys get easily confused by it as Master Xehanort's "master" plan, do feel free to let me know and I'll get right to polishing it up a bit.**

**Oh, and before I leave you guys to this chapter, there's been a certain... question that some of you have been raising to me for quite some time. Not saying which one, but you'll know it once you read it. The answer will speak for itself here... I hope.**

**Alright, that's enough talking for one day. I hope you guys have fun reading this!**

* * *

With a blink of weary, exhausted eyes, the lone Sorceress from the top of the Mysterious Tower contnued to stare silently at the urn she was cradling in her arms. Ever since her Master had disintegrated before her eyes, Rinoa hadn't had any sleep for the past couple of hours.

She was tired, but she stubbornly forced it to the back of her head by copious amounts of grief and sorrow. Heck, she probably wouldn't have slept a wink anyway. She needed more than just a day to cope with the loss of the closest family she had had for a long time.

"... and then I should think that the old man's got the place a bit too dull and plain for his visitors."

Oh right, and Joshua was still here too.

Rinoa was doing her best to drown out his annoying rambles as he paced all around Yen Sid's office. A shame that he didn't know it.

"Perhaps a bit of sprucing up would do the trick?" Joshua suggested with a stroke of his chin, his eyes scrutinising the chalkboard and the scribbles on it, "Maybe a whiteboard for starters. And a couple of markers. But not those permanent ones; those can be a real pain in the butt."

He turned his attention over to the main table, "And then there's this guy. Why, a bit of lacquering will do the trick. Reduces rhe risk of any nasty splinters that might pop up."

He then casted his eyes upon Rinoa. He frowned considerably, "And you're not listening to me anymore, aren't you?"

Rinoa gently stroked the blue triangle hat as if it were a cat. "Not since the first few words that spewed out of your mouth..." she muttered out bluntly.

Joshua sighed out exasperated, "Geez Louise, you'd think that a Sorceress would even give a damn about an angel commenting on renovations..."

Eyeing the teen with a steely glare, Rinoa stated, "What we need to focus right now, is how in all the worlds are we going to tackle a problem that involves trillions of lives."

"And why did you think I came here in the first place, Angel Wings?" Joshua retorted back with a unamused look, "You think I'm heartless enough to not care about what's happening out there?"

Rinoa stared at him hard, "Yes."

"... Okay, at some points yes but this is different! If we don't do something soon, I'll lose millions of potential next-gen kiddies to play around with!"

Rinoa was starting to feel flustered for some reason. It could due to the grief she was feeling about losing her Master, or the stress that was starting to weigh upon her shoulder (and sooner than she had anticipated), or the fact that Joshua's remark about making kids his playthings irked her.

Whatever it was, Rinoa was ready to lash out at something, and she would be most eager to pin the blame on the confounded nuisance of an angel in front of then suddenly, she froze.

She could sense it. The familiar aura that chorused out across the realm of the cosmos as an interstellar ship entered a world.

One silent exchange with Joshua and she knew.

He felt it too.

They were here.

"To be continued then," Joshua concluded with a cocky smirk.

Rinoa glared at this abrupt change in his stance. So, back to being a smart aleck, eh?

_"Don't count on it..."_ she thought silently to herself.

The sooner they got right to business, the sooner she needn't hear his rants breathing down her neck again.

Rising out of her-no, Master Yen Sid's chair, she brisked her way out the door, Joshua close behind with his hands stuffed in his pockets. They descended down the spiral staircase until they arrived at ground level. Pushing the doors open, Rinoa stepped out into the lush grass field.

Sadly to say, this prompted another artistic remark from Joshua.

"Oh, and there's the grass too! Where do I even start with it? Look at the weeds! They're so widespread! Yup, definitely needs a big overhaul! Perhaps carpet? No no, that's too dull..."

Ignoring the angel's rambles, Rinoa casted her eyes to the sky above her. The stars seemed blissfully as peace, but she knew better.

Thanks to years of star-gazing training, she easily picked out the ones that were flickering out like a fizzled light bulb. She was gravely worried at the alarming rate of worlds that were suddenly disappearing. It was on a scale that surpassed even the Heartless Siege two years earlier.

But she knew it wasn't them; she had felt it when Sora (subtly) sealed off the Dark Realm along with Kingdom Hearts using the χ-blade. And it most definitely wasn't Thanos' alien army either; through her White Magic she had seen that battle. A majority of them had been destroyed by that superhero army whilst the remaining ones were either dusted or taken prisoner. There was a darker force at play here.

And then she finally spotted it, the familiar sight that was the Gummi Ship flew in close towards ground level. Joshua frowned in displeasure at the way the resulting wind blowback was causing a barrage of dust, dead leaves and loose grass to fly all around him.

"... Okay...maybe carpet grass doesn't sound that bad after all..." he mused thoughtfully, albeit with a more reluctant well, at least it doesn't cost that much anywhere he went.

As the Gummi Ship continued its descent, inside the cockpit Donald called back to the others, "Prepare to disembark!"

At his announcement, Selphie eagerly began to unclip her seatbelt. Tifa noticed her with a disapproving look.

"Put your strap back on," she lectured the teen, "It's still too bumpy to stand up."

Selphie scoffed, "Nonsense! It can't be that bad! Besides, my aching back needs a good stretch!"

She leapt out of her seat, and quickly realised the merit of the older woman's words. Her legs wobbled out of control from all that shaking going on, and her arms flailed wildly to find support. Tidus looked almost fixed to reach out and help her.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Aieeee!" Selphie cried out as she tumbled back into her seat.

As Selphie hastily strapped herself back in, Tifa looked to Kairi who was giving her an apologetic look.

"Is she always this impulsive?" Was the question she asked the redhead.

Kairi rubbed her neck awkwardly, "More than you know... She opened the door of Wakka's car this one time, while he was still driving it."

Tifa's eyes widened slightly in shock and disbelief.

"And all because she needed some "fresh air"," Tidus chimed in with a side-glance to the girl in-question.

Selphie fumed at him, "The air con was broken and I was practically melting in the heat!"

"We had the windows opened."

"I was still suffocating!"

"I warned you not to wear that coat during the Summer," Kairi stated bluntly.

"I wore it because I LOVE it! Quit tryin' to ruin my fashion gig you guys!"

Up in front, Donald's face reddened slightly and his fingers tightened around the controls. He was really trying hard not to lose it again. Another reason why working with one rowdy teen alone was more than enough for him since he had more control over his constant antics.

Terra on the other hand who had been overhearing the conversation the whole time, could only stare in awkwardness as another argument broke out between the teens, and poor Tifa once more caught right in the middle of it.

_"That escalated quickly..."_ she thought to herself anxiously as she decided to stare out the dome glass again, hoping to keep her mind off off this.

At least the ride was almost over. And so it did after another few minutes. The Gummi Ship finally landed on solid earth.

As the entrance door opened with a hiss, Donald hopped of his seat and hollered out, "Everybody out!"

Naminé was almost unnerved by the way she could see a blood vessel popping up slightly on the duck mage's forehead.

Selphie groaned in relief, "Finally...!"

Unclipping her seatbelt (again), she hopped out of her seat and did a few stretches.

Meanwhile Kairi quickly moved to help her grandmother out of her seat, Naminé and Terra joining in a moment later.

"Oh my... what kind friends you have my dear," Mdm Umi commented with a warm smile as she was helped up to her feet.

Kairi smiled back, "It helps when you get your influence from one of your friends."

One-by-one, the group headed down the steps from the ship, until they finally caught sight of Rinoa and Joshua standing before them.

Raising a brow at the pair, Lea remarked wryly, "Don't remember seeing you two 'round here."

Joshua smirked slyly, "Is that right? Then I must be doing a very good job."

"At what?"

"Camouflage. I'm not here, but I'm _also_ here."

Rinoa gave him a hardened frown and elbowed him in the ribs.

"Knock it off," she scolded him through her expression.

Turning back to the others, she addressed, "I thank you all for coming on such a short notice, although I didn't expect such a big group. Anything to say about that, Terra?"

She turned an eye to her apprentice.

Terra bowed her head, "There was a... complication back on Destiny Islands..."

Rinoa frowned slightly in worry, "Complication?"

Terra clenched a fist tightly, "The daemons... they attacked and pursued me all the way... They've conquered the entire world..."

The Sorceress' eyes widened in horror. Forget about her suspicions, there was DEFNITELY evil on the loose!

Glancing over to Kairi, she spoke solemnly, "I'm sorry."

Kairi shook her head, "I'll get over it..."

_"In a few trillion years..."_ she added to herself.

And then the redhead suddenly realised something.

"Wait a minute... this is the Mysterious Tower..." she muttered out as she gazed upon the majesty of the lone structure before her.

Then looking back to Rinoa, she questioned, "Where's Master Yen Sid?"

* * *

"... oh..." Kairi muttered in emotional understanding, her eyes gazing at the familiar blue magician hat atop the table before her.

After having escorted the whole group back into Yen Sid's study, Rinoa introduced herself as his former apprentice in the mystic arts.

She had also just finished explaining what had happened just a day ago, especially the part that her Master disappeared before her eyes.

Currently she was sitting back at her Master's chair, staring down at the table with a grieving expression, and Terra was at her side trying to comfort her the best she could.

Aside from her, Donald also appeared to be saddened by Yen Sid's demise. First the King, and now his Master too? And those were two of the most powerful Keyblade Masters of their age! He was now certain that there were darker times ahead.

From the hat, Kairi looked back to Rinoa and said, "I'm sorry for your loss."

The raven-hair sighed morosely, "Yeah, that seems to be the buzz going around these days..."

"No kidding..." Tidus murmured quietly.

Wiping a tear from her cheek, Rinoa nodded gratefully to her kind apprentice before turning back to the others.

"Once again, I'm glad to see that all of you are safe," she addressed as politely as she could, "And I'm also glad that I'm finally able to meet your acquaintance, Princess Kairi."

Kairi shook her head, "Kairi will do just fine, Rinoa."

That title still sounded foreign and alien to an islander like herself.

Nodding in understanding, the Sorceress rose up to her feet.

"The worlds are at a tipping point. We are on the verge of total anarchy and disaster," she spoke in a grave tone, "Over the past 24 hours, billions, if not trillions of lives have been disappearing like there's no tomorrow."

"We've noticed," Lea noted, as he emotionally recalled when he saw Roxas and Xion turn to ash before his eyes, as well as those other plumes of ash rising all across Twilight Town.

Kairi narrowed her eyes, "Sora also suspected something was up... before he vanished too."

"So you know what's happening out there?" Tifa inquired with a serious nodded her head, "Yes."

In a split second, Kairi was rushing forwards and banged a fist on the table.

"TELL US THEN!" she roared angrily, shocking everyone else in the room, "WHO'S THE ASSHOLE THAT'S CAUSING ALL OF THIS MISERY?! WHO IS IT THAT TOOK SORA AWAY FROM ME?!"

Rinoa looked at her with a hint of sadness and pain on her face. She could easily sense how much the grief and loss were eating away at the redhead's heart and soul and causing her to act so rashly.

Lifting an arm, she waved her fingers gently.

In a puff of white smoke, a holographic projection appeared to the side, allowing everyone to gaze in shock at the hulking figure before them.

He was heavily built for a brute, and donned gold armor plating. His expression while neutral was also expressing a hint of fierceness and pride, which intimidated a frightened Naminé to no end.

Gazing at the figure with a hardened stare, Rinoa spoke out, "Meet Thanos. A galactic warlord who hails from a planet that has long since been dead. He is as ruthless as his victims who live to tell the tale claims him to be."

"Yes. His tales of destruction even sends chills down the backs of us angels." Joshua said with a more serious look this time.

Kairi stared longingly at the projection.

"Thanos..." she growled under her breath.

"Unfortunately, his true end goal is as of yet uncertain to us, but there is one red flag. A really suspicious one," Rinoa continued, "Every planet he attacks, he always kills off half the population."

"_Half_ the population?" Selphie parroted in mortification.

Rinoa nodded, "Correct."

Tifa tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Hmm... that does sound a bit odd, even for a warlord. Why kill off half of a world if you want to rule over all of them?"

""Why" indeed..." Kairi concurred with a nod of her head.

"But that still doesn't explain why everyone's suddenly disappearing," Tidus pointed out, realising something wasn't adding up, "If Thanos was the cause of it, what did he do?"

Rinoa waved her hand again, "He used this."

Another puff of smoke and this time there was an object right beside the Thanos hologram.

It looked like a gauntlet of some sorts, with visible holes carved into the knuckle areas as well as the centre of the hand.

As everyone looked at it, Rinoa said, "This is the Infinity Gauntlet. It was built specifically to serve one purpose. To house these."

In a flash, six tiny gems appeared in the air. They hovered around like bees until they stopped in front of Rinoa.

"The Infinity Stones. These little guys were forged at the dawn of the Universe itself. Separately, they may seem insignificant, but they each house the greatest powers ever known to life."

One by one, the Stones began glowing brightly as she introduced them.

"Space."

The blue one glowed.

"Reality."

The red one glowed.

"Power."

The purple one glowed.

"Mind."

The yellow one glowed.

"Time."

The green one glowed.

"And Soul."

The orange one glowed.

"And when combined together..."

Everyone watched as all six gems flew over to the holes on the Infinity Gauntlet.

"... they turn the Gauntlet into the most powerful and dangerous weapon in the Universe."

The Stone flashed as they fitted inside the holes, making the Infinity Gauntlet look more ominous and scary-looking than before, like it had just come to life.

"Thanos scoured the farthest reaches of space to find them. Sadly though, most of them were on worlds teeming with civilisation."

Rinoa didn't show them any of the destruction he had left in his wake; the looks on their faces were enough for them to comprehend the sheer power and notoriety of the Mad Titan.

"And when he finally did. He used the Gauntlet... and wiped out half of all life in the Universe. At random."

It was the final two words that sunk in. Everyone in the room had fallen silent. Their thoughts all went back to when they saw countless innocent lives disappear.

"And all it took was just a snap of his fingers."

Rinoa snapped her fingers.

"Just like that."

A great swell of anger rose from within Kairi's heart.

So Thanos was the cause of all this? He was the one who killed so many people in a single stroke? The reason why Sora and Riku are now dead too? The thought of sweet vengeance rocked her to her core.

"And that brings me to you, Kairi," Rinoa then turned back to the redhead, "Since most of the Keyblade wielders are no longer with us, all our hope lies with you now."

Kairi looked to her, a hint of confliction written in her blue irises, "But... why me? I haven't done anything worthwhile for the worlds? Heck, I haven't even done much at all!"

Rinoa smiled lightly, "Well, for one thing you're still standing. And for another, there is a reason why you're holding onto the Kingdom Key. Right?"

Kairi blinked at her in befuddlement. How did she know about that?

As if she sensed her thoughts, Rinoa replied back, "When you're a sorceress like me, you tend to pick up on a few things."

Her eyes then darted behind the others. She suddenly lifted a hand.

The door swung open, accompanied by a sudden "oof!"

As everyone turned to greet the downed newcomer who had been listening from the other end all the while, Rinoa added in, "Detecting folks that overhear will be another."

More than half the group gaped their mouths open in surprise and recognition; Lea and Naminé's eyes were wide open.

"Olette?!" they exclaimed in unison.

Picking herself up, the female teen bashfully greeted them back, "Uh... hi guys..."

Lea was at a loss for words. "B-But, I thought... you were..."

"Dusted?" Kairi piped in.

"No... I thought you were still grieving over losing Hayner and Pence?"

Olette rubbed her neck, "I was... for a while anyways. But then I saw you and Naminé head off through that dark portal earlier this morning. And since Hayner and Pence... are no longer here... well um..."

Naminé gasped, "You followed us into the darkness? Unprotected?"

Lea growled with a slap to his forehead. "Olette! You know better than to just waltz into a Dark Corridor without any protective gear! I mean, _seriously?!_ What is with you kids and always rushing into things without a second thought?!"

Olette frowned at him, "Really? You're lecturing me on wearing protective clothes when you and Naminé clearly never wore cloaks?"

She pointed to the casual clothes the pair were wearing.

Lea glared back, "That's because I'm used to the darkness, and Naminé here is Kairi's Nobody, i.e. she's darkness-proof!"

Kairi took a step forth towards Olette, a troubled expression gracing her features.

"Olette... you do realise the implications of walking through dark portals, right?" she asked her in a calmer manner.

Olette turned to her and nodded. "Yup. You can imagine the number of lectures I get from Roxas about it. Thankfully though, this girl does take advices to heart. Roxas discarded his old black cloak when he came back. Considering he also told me it protects its wearers from the darkness, and also because it looked pretty cool and gothic, he was happy to give it to me."

Kairi felt a little more relieved now. "Ah, so you wore it and headed right in."

Olette nodded again in confirmation before turning back to Lea.

The spikey redhead sighed out, "Okay. You're smart. I'll give you that."

"So you were also at Destiny Islands and was stowing away on the Gummi Ship this whole time?!" Donald flared up at her with raised fists.

"Oh yeah, I was..." Olette replied meekly, "Although to be fair those creatures didn't pick up on my scent so I was safe. But that ride on the ship was really quite bumpy."

Donald's eyelids were visibly twitching. Ultimately however, he let out a sigh.

"I'll words with ya later!" he snapped, his head gesturing back to Rinoa, "Right now we've worse things to worry about!"

Nodding her head, Olette looked to the others and asked, "So... I heard about what happened to the worlds. What're we going to do about this Thanos guy? He sounds like a pretty tough villain."

Rinoa hummed, "And that he is. By his own strength and might, Thanos can easily fight off even the strongest Keyblade Master. And with the Infinity Gauntlet, he's now the most powerful creature in the entire Universe."

"So how do we best him Master?" Terra asked in a worrisome tone.

"There are a few complications," Rinoa stated, "The World he resides is in an extremely remote place in the Universe. Farther out than the Lanes Between. Isn't that right Joshua?"

Joshua smirked, "Yep. And it even a Warp Gummi wouldn't be able to get a ship there in less than three months."

Selphie choked back of gasp, "Three months?!"

"Yep."

"And how do you know about this, might I ask?" Tidus questioned him.

Joshua grinned, "I came from that World too."

Everyone excluding Rinoa stared at him.

"Then you could just teleport us there!" Kairi blew up at him, "Yeah! Show us where that hulking bastard is and I'll rip him a new one!"

She planted a fist into her hand for good measure.

Naminé simply stared in shock at her sudden change in attitude. This was defnitely something that was unlike Kairi.

Joshua stared at her in silent judgement for a brief few seconds. And then he burst out laughing.

Irate that he was getting on her nerves, Kairi snarled out, "What's so funny, Chuckles?! Did I say something funny?!"

Joshua clutched his stomach with one hand and waved at the redhead with the other.

"Oh no no! Not at all! I'm just a little surprised that you would easily throw your life away like that!"

Kairi narrowed her eyes and took a step closer to him, "If that's what it takes, then yes!"

This only prompted more rambunctious laughter from the angel.

Rinoa sighed softly as Kairi grew more angry by Joshua's mockery.

"Kairi..." she spoke gently and cautiously.

The redhead glanced at her, in a way as if she was daring her to protest against her decision.

"... As much as I hate to admit it, Joshua's right. It's like I said just now: Thanos would utterly squash you if you threw yourself into a fight against him. One does not simply challenge a war-worn warlord and expect to win."

She paused.

"Huh... "war-worn warlord". Sounds a bit rhythmic..."

Kairi's hardened gaze softened, as she began to understand the possible consequences of her actions.

"Besides, my powers do not extend to interstellar taxi service," Joshua stated bluntly with folded arms, "So if you're thinking of using me as such, drop it."

A disappointed Selphie scribbled that note off her mental list.

Rinoa headed over to the bookshelf and began browsing each shelf. Joshua took note of every little detail.

"Huh, creaky, dusty and splinter-prone. Could just discard it in the wood chipper and get a better one."

"Shut it you!" Rinoa snapped back at him irritatingly.

She swore that someday, he was going to be the death of her.

And then she found it; an extremely thick book with a long red bookmark strip and ancient designs on its cover. From the looks of things, it appeared to have not been used in a very long time.

Brushing off the spider webs and carefully blowing away any traces of dust on it, Rinoa carried it back over to the table.

"Well, confronting Thanos is definitely out of the question. And using powerful spells and weapons are nothing next to the Infinity Stones. So we go for the next best option."

Setting it on the table, she began to turn the pages. As far as Kairi could see, they were all filled with long passages, written in a language that she didn't understand.

And then Rinoa finally stopped at one particular page. Etched on it was a faint drawing of... a Keyblade.

"Most accounts say it doesn't exist, but I beg to differ," Rinoa stated grimly, "This is the Philosopher's Key. It predates any other known Keyblade throughout history, even Master Xehanort's. Some say that it was forged from the heart of a dying star. Others say that it was an advanced prototype that the very first Keyblade Master ever created in an attempt to harness the full powers of the x-blade."

Kairi studied the drawing for a brief moment. A Keyblade that potentially had the ability to be as powerful as the x-blade? That was virtually unheard of! No other Keyblade should ever be that capable! Even the others were also surprised by the facts stated.

"But there's a catch to this ability though, Rinoa then continued, "The Philosopher's Key doesn't perform like a normal Keyblade. While it has magical properties and can be used to fight, it cannot be used to unlock people's hearts or the hearts of Worlds. It serves a different purpose altogether."

Donald folded his arms, "And that being...?"

Rinoa stroked her chin, "Well, from the bits and pieces I could gather, I'd say it has the ability to open up gateway between Worlds. No matter how close or far they are."

"It can really do that?" Selphie wondered with a gaped mouth.

"Mmm hmm. Although there is another piece of info about its capabilities, but unfortunately I couldn't make it out. The words were faded for me too read."

"So I guess the task is simple," Tifa surmised, "Find this Keyblade, use it to get to Thanos' World, and snatch that Infinity Gauntlet of his."

"And the Stones with it," Kairi added in with a nod, "We can use them to bring everyone back. And we can use them and the Key to fire with fire against Thanos!"

Everyone agreed on this as well. It was a basic a plan as they ever had, but it would have to do for now.

"But then begs the question though... Where do we finds this ancient Keyblade?" Tidus pointed out, "I mean, surely there wouldn't be any clues as to where it's hidden right?"

Rinoa smiled impressively, "Good question, Tidus. The bad news is that this book doesn't reveal much about where the Philosopher's Key might be hidden at."

"And the good news?" Kairi asked anxiously, fueled by a inkling of renewed hope to save Sora and Riku.

"The good news, is that I have some very close friends across the World. Mages who have extent knowledge about the ancient legends. Even more fortunate is that most of them survived the Snap."

"That's terrific!" Lea exclaimed, "Tell us where they are and we'll go talk to 'em!"

"Yeah!" Tidus agreed with a clenched fist.

Rinoa folded her arms and scrunched up her face in thought.

"Well... I haven't been communicating much with them since I first took Terra in as my apprentice..." she muttered, "But thankfully we're still on friendly terms. For the most part anyways. I'll do what I can to re-establish contact."

Kairi frowned, "Great. So we just stand around doing nothing in the meantime?"

"As a matter of fact, no," Rinoa suddenly stated, "Which brings me to the next issue that we're facing."

Closing the book, she then questioned the rest, "Now, as I understand, the daemons had invaded your world and decimated it. Correct?"

Kairi nodded her head, as she fought off those painful memories that were struggling to resurface.

"Did Thanos sent those monsters?" Lea snarled heatedly, "Cos if he did then I'm gonna-"

"No."

Lea froze in place. "U-Uh, w-what...?"

"No they're not. The creatures that serve under Thanos are more military in nature, and they form branches of his massive armada. The daemons are formed from the very bowels of darkness itself. Similar to the Heartless. However, they have no direct link to the Dark Realm, hence they are unable to cross worlds easily."

Tifa frowned slightly in worry, "So you believe that there's someone else who's controlling these daemons?"

"It's possible, yes."

"And you said that they couldn't cross between Worlds using the darkness right?" Olette said, "Then how is it they still managed to make it to Destiny Islands?"

Kairi's heart raced slightly.

That... was actually a good point she hadn't stopped to consider. How _did_ those hordes manage to criss-cross Worlds to reach her own?

Rinoa placed her hands behind her back and turned to look out the window.

"What if I told you that the Snap did more than just wipe out half of all life?" she asked.

Everyone became alarmed by this.

"W-What do you mean by that...?" Tidus worried.

Rinoa's eyes narrowed as she noticed one more star blinking out.

"When Thanos used the Stones, the power they generated produced a massive surge of cosmic energy that rippled across the entire Universe," she explained, "So strong, that it also weakened the barriers surrounding the Worlds." Turning back around, she added, "Simply put, the Worlds are now vulnerable again from any threat that's now able to cross over from theirs, including the daemons."

Everyone gasped.

"So you mean..." Selphie murmured softly with widening eyes.

"There's probably a whole lot more baddies that are gonna be causing trouble out there!" Tidus exclaimed.

Kairi lowered her head, deeply troubled by the news. But then she slammed her hands on the table, "Then we have to stop them! The daemons and any other bad guys! That has to be our top priority! Who knows how far out they're spreading right now!"

"Yeah! They could be heading for Disney World as we speak!" Donald chimed in hastily.

Lea furrowed in worry, "Twilight Town could also be at risk..."

Olette looked to him with a worried look.

Rinoa who remained as calm as ever, raised her hands.

"Calm down, all of you," she said in a peaceful manner, "I understand the gravity of this situation, but rash actions are not the way to go about it."

Joshua nodded, "Agreed. And besides, given the horde of daemons sweeping across Destiny Islanda like a megatsunami, you guys wouldn't even stand a chance. You'd be massacred."

Despite being downright furious about being given another talk about patience, Kairi knew that they were right. The daemons were an altogether different breed of monsters that they still didn't understand, and they even had to take down just one of them as a team.

Breathing a reluctant sigh, she asked, "Then what can we do first?"

Rinoa folded her arms, "If I recall correctly, one of my colleagues resides in a World that I visit on a regular basis. Her name is Y'shtola Rhul, and she's got quite a knack for myths and legends about the Keyblade. Find her, and she can tell you more about the Philosopher's Key. Maybe."

"And that World would be...?" Tidus inquired.

Rinoa smiled a teensy bit, "Radiant Garden."

Tifa's eyes widened.

Kairi blinked, "Okay. A World we're familiar with. Easy start."

She turned to the rest, "C'mon guys, let's move!"

Everyone nodded their heads and turned to head on out.

But then Rinoa called out, "Kairi? Could you hang back for a minute?"

The Princess halted in her steps and looked back to the Sorceress and Terra. With one glance back to her other friends heading down the stairs, she walked back over to the table.

"Yes Rinoa?" she asked anxiously.

"I almost forgot about something," the Sorceress informed her, "I believe Master Yen Sid wanted to give you something. He had intended to before you went off to fight Master Xehanort, but it must've slipped his mind last minute."

Kairi gaped slightly. Master Yen Sid had something for her?

With a wave of her hand, Rinoa conjured up another poof of white smoke. When it settled, there was a bag that laid on its sides before her.

Looking to the redhead, she explained, "Special garments that my Master crafted especially for you. Should help you fit in with all the combat shenanigans you'll get mixed up with."

Eyeing the suitcase for a silent moment, Kairi reached over to grab it by its handle. Feeling that the weight of the thing wasn't as heavy as she presumed, she proceeded to sling it over her shoulder, mimicking how Riku would do it.

"There are a few others awesome perks that come with the clothes, but you'll have to discover them on your own."

Nodding her head in acknowledgement, Kairi replied, "Thanks. I'll definitely be needing these." _"Especially when I drive my Keyblade right into Thanos' heart."_ she added mentally.

Rinoa smiled encouragingly, "These are tough times for all of us, and I suspect that they might just get worse. Since all the Worlds are connected again, close or far, daemons aside, you'll be facing down a whole lot more new faces. Good or bad, time will tell. But since you're a Keyblade wielder, you need to become our beacon of hope. Never shy away from right and wrong, and always remember that you have your friends by your side. And that reminds me..."

She looked to Terra, "I would like for you to accompany Kairi on her journey."

To say that her apprentice was surprised by this request, was an understatement.

"J-Join them Master...?" she asked nervously, "B-But what about you? My t-training...?"

Rinoa placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Terra. You've made me proud in more ways than I ever expected, even when I believed that I didn't do a good job in training you. It's time that you start going out there, explore the Worlds, and make some new friends. You never had a chance to do any of that before I met you, no?"

Terra lowered her head, thinking back to whatever scraps of memory she had about her childhood. Much of her early life had been stolen away, by an tyrannical empire and Kefka Palazzo.

"And besides, I'll be fine," her Master assured her, "I am a full-fledged Sorceress after all."

Both Master and pupil shared a silent momebt together. In awkwardness, Kairi suddenly felt like the odd one out in the conversation, although she was quite surprised that Terra would be quite a sheltered girl.

Terra felt tears forming at her eyelids. Truth be told, she was scared. Scared to leave her Master's side for so long. Rinoa was her entire world and to an extent, her only family. She had taken her in and cared for her, brought her up to the peak of her abilities and talents where Kefka was unable to. She couldn't bear to leave her Master alone by herself. They always stuck together, stronger than glue.

"B-But... I..." Terra struggled to find the right words to protest.

Rinoa carressed her cheek, "Shhh... hush now Terra honey. Listen to me. You're becoming a young adult, and you need a bit of exposure. And with Kairi and her friends, I'm confident that you'll perservere, even without me around. Okay?"

Terra sniffed a little and wiped her eyes. Gazing at her Master longingly, she ultimately replied, "Yes Master."

Rinoa smiled affectionately at her pupil, before she moved to wrap her arms around her tightly as though she was her own child.

"You'll be fine, Terra," she whispered quietly, "I have faith in your abilities, and so should you."

From her apprentice, she looked back to Kairi.

"If I could make a request, could you keep an eye out for my pupil for me? She needs to get that spark of fun in her system too."

Kairi nodded her head, "Yes, of course. Don't worry about a thing. Your pupil's safe with us." _Hopefully..._

Rinoa smiled, "Exactly what I wanted to hear."

Letting go of her pupil, she took a few steps back.

"Terra Branford. My star pupil. I wish you all the best for your journey." she proclaimed in a formal tone.

Fighting back the tears, Terra bow courteously before her.

Standing straight again, she shared one last silent exchange with her Master before she turned and went over to Kairi.

Sporting a weak smile, she asked, "Shall we, Kairi?"

Both girls were unaware of a smirk forming on Rinoa's lips.

Kairi nodded, "Yup. Let's head on down. The others are probably waiting for us."

As the pair headed out of the study, Rinoa bade them farewell one last time. "Safe travels!"

Once the door closed shut behind her, she and Joshua became the remaining occupants in the room. Seconds later, the pair watched through the window as the Gummi Ship ascended up into the sky before shooting off into distance.

"Well, that was a nice get-together, but I'm afraid it's time I head back home. Gotta make sure my World hasn't fallen into chaos yet," the angel said with a hand raking through his hair, "But I'll get back to you lot if I find anything about Thanos' current whereabouts."

"And I will continue to reach out to my other colleagues," Rinoa concurred, "If I know some of them, they're probably making themselves a bit elusive to find."

With flick of his wrist, Joshua's white angel wings appeared out of his back. In one flap, he began hovering over the floor and started making his way over to the window.

And then he paused.

"One more thing. That book's really old," he stated with a grin, "Is there a latest version of it somewhere?"

The only answer he got was a small fireball being hurled his way.

The sassy angel quickly shot out of the window and flew high into the sky, his mocking laughter accompanying his exit.

Rubbing her forehead in exasperation, Rinoa practically fell back on her Master's chair.

Wow. That was the first time she had actually addressed a group of people, and she couldn't believe how well it had turned out. Honestly, she was expecting it to go much more South, and Terra being there to back her up a bit.

And now she had a lot more on her plate than she had bargained for. Juggling between her mage friends, the threat of the daemons, the connections to other dimensions, and of course Joshua himself, Rinoa had no idea how she was going to manage all of it in one go.

_"Is this what you had to go through everyday, Master?"_ she thought to herself woefully.

Well, considering the fact how grey her Master's long beard was, it was a safe bet that stress had to be a key factor for the decolorisation. Just the thought of having grey hair at her age made her shudder.

In any case however, Rinoa knew that somehow, someway, she had to pull through. After all, if Terra was now going through an uncertain time, why shouldn't she too as her Master. Make things more equal so they had a common thing to relate to.

Reaching over to her Master's hat, she lifted it up, exposing the urn that had been hidden underneath all this time. As she stared at the object that held the remains of her Master, Rinoa could not help but reach over to touch it smooth surface.

It made her flashback to her earlier years with Master Yen Sid.

He had been calm, composed, compassionate and caring. And it showed throughout every step of her own training.

If only he hadn't...

Rinoa shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. She couldn't think about regrets and the pain of the past, all that she could do now was move forward, and hopefully live up to her Master's legacy and teachings.

With that being said however, considering the number of things on her list, she clearly did not have time to bring the urn to the Hall of Mages.

Sighing in deep sadness, Rinoa croaked out, "Sorry Master... but you're gonna have to wait a while longer..."

Removing her hand from the urn, Rinoa headed back over to the bookshelf.

Finding the Linkpearl that she hadn't used in a long time, she frowned slightly at her knowledge of its usage. It was a little fuzzy.

Looks like she had some catching up to do...

* * *

**Fun fact: Linkpearls are a recurring items in the Final Fantasy series, introduced in XI. In this one however, I will drawing influence more from XIV, as well as the crossover event with XV.**

**And who's leading the daemons you might be asking? Well... I can't tell you the answer now, but I can give you a small, teensy weensy hint...**

**He is quite an _enigmatic_ character. **

***evil chuckle***


	7. Chapter VI

**A/N: Apologies, but this chapter is a lot shorter than I had envisioned it to be. And no, there's no Kairi and co. this time around.**

**Kairi: Aw... but I want to see my new outfit...!**

**Sora: Yeah! You mentioned the previous chapter that Yen Sid was supposed to give it to her right? I wanna see it too!**

**Lea: I just wanna stay in the toilet for the rest of this chapter... (his face is green and he almost vomits out the excess sea-salt ice cream)**

**Xion: *sighs* And you were the one who wanted to come here...**

**Roxas: I think I said that, Xi.**

**Naminé: Still though, at least we have another chapter out.**

**Kairi: But at least it could've been longer!**

**A/N: I said I was sorry, didn't I?**

**Riku: I'm just surprised that Lea managed to hold down his ten cups worth of ice cream for this long since the last chapter.**

**Sora: Which isn't normal by normal standards!**

**(Everyone watches as Lea bounces up and down like a hot potato and runs off to the toilet to vomit out his lunch.)**

**Xion: And there he goes again...**

**(She runs off to the toilet to help him.)**

**A/N: Okay, so while Lea's dealing with that, you guys can proceed on with reading! Enjoy!**

* * *

To say that he was caught completely by surprise, was a gross understatement. In his defense, even he could not have foreseen something like this playing out like it did. The massive number of casualties on multiple worlds. He could sense it as easily as he could view the future.

While he was thankful to whatever deity was up there that his apprentices were not vaporised just after their return, he was still quite troubled by the state that the Worldline was in right now. Heck, he wasn't even certain how he was going to fix all of this!

How does one fight a tyrannical alien warlord who had the power of all six freakin' Infinity Stones?! He had witnessed the fights upon both worlds. The alien's former homeland that was now like a brother world to the Keyblade Graveyard, and the other that those guys refer to as Earth.

Early on, he knew that those cape-wearing, armor-suited, gun-shooting band of Halloween bozos had almost no chance at beating the guy. In fact, they were already doomed from the start. Fate had already set a course for annihilation since the dawn of time itself.

It had happened before with the first Keyblade War (even though those guys clearly were unaware of what had taken place far from their shores), and it almost happened again with the second one. But ultimately, he surmised that maybe there was more to the Laws of Time than he clearly understood.

Taking in a wiff of fresh air through his nostrils, the lone hooded figure clasped his hand behind his back. Taking a look at the environment all around him, he started walking slowly in one general direction, and with no intended destination in mind.

He wondered through the endless landscapes that was the Land of Departure, heading past mountain ranges, the lush, beautiful green forests, as well as all the training grounds. And yet he never stopped to look at any of the scenery. He was too deep in thought to even consider doing a bit of marvelling.

Eventually after quite some time, he finally came to a stop. And from the darkness underneath his hood, he gazed up the majesty that was the main castle of the world. From what he could gather from his Gazing Eye, this was the place where Keyblade wielders grew up and hone in their craft following the abadonment of Scala ad Caelum.

And he could not help but frown slightly at the thought.

"To think... this used to be my own, private vacation house..." he thought to himself in utter unamusement.

Really? Who was the clown who thought it was a good idea to set up shop on his beloved property?! Had they no shame in desecrating everything he had owned inside it?! Even now he winced at the thought of that blue-haired four-year-old who drooled on his prized Moogle plushie collection and ripped apart a Chocobo plushie head from the rest of its body.

Just then, he felt the air current change sharply around him, and then heard the swirl of an opening portal. Even so, he maintained his attention on the castle as another cloaked figure stepped forth from a Corridor of Darkness. Eyeing the massive building in front of him, the newcomer chuckled wryly to himself.

"Really Master?" he commented with a gruff voice, "Back from the dead after a century, and this is the first place you visit?"

There was a long sigh. "Good to see you too, Luxu."

Turning around to face his pupil, the Master of Masters addressed, "So, how're the others coping? I heard they're still... readjusting to the Land of the Living."

Reaching up to his hood obscuring his face, the student pulled it back, revealing a man with long silver-black hair tied up in a pony tail, a pair of scar decorating his features, and an eyepatch gracing his right eye.

The yellow of his only good eye glinting in the sunlight, Luxu replied back, "Well... it depends on your definition of 'readjusting'. I mean it's not like they've been _dead_ for eons too."

The Master of Masters bristled slightly at this statement. "You could've just said "No Master, they're not okay! They're stupefied that the whole World's changed! Everything looks so alien to them now!"," he said with a dramatic wave of his arms, "Or something like that."

He turned around back to the castle, "To be fair though, a lot _has_ happened since we last graced the worlds with our presence."

"Pfft! No need to remind me of that circus freakshow orchestrated by that old coot Xehanort," Xigbar scoffed, "Even I wasn't sure if I was catchin' his drift of a plan half the time. All that 'thirteen versions of himself' nonsense..."

His master lifted an index finger, "Ah ah! Not what I'm talking about!"

Luxu blinked at him, "... Then what are you implying, Master?"

"There have been a couple of interesting developments as of late, if you hadn't noticed already when I snuck you out of that cell. You're welcome for that by the way."

The Master clasped his hands behind his back. "Out of nowhere, folks across the Worlds have started disappearing into thin air, literally. Like they never even existed."

Luxu tilted his head, "And let me guess... you didn't see this through your eye."

With a wave of his hand, the No Name Keyblade crackled into his grip. He held it out to his Master.

Eyeing his apprentice's reaction in bafflement, the Master questioned, "And you aren't at all surprised by this?"

Luxu raised a brow, "About what?"

The Master choked back a gasp. "What I just said! Everyone's disappearing!" he exclaimed with dramatically flailing arms, "Dusted! Disintegrated! Dead as the dodos!"

Luxu chuckled mirthlessly, "After living for a long time with different faces and personalities, you tend to get used to some things."

The Master's hands dropped to his side in defeat and he let out yet another exasperated sigh. "First you copy that guy's regenerative abilities, and now you start to sound like him too? Geez Louise..."

"I wouldn't say I "copied" from him. More like "inspired"," Luxu stated with a plain shrug, "Besides, you wouldn't stop rambling on about how annoying he is in your lecture notes. Remember?"

The Master clenched a fist, "Right... that lesson about healing abilities..."

How could he ever forget about that one...

Ultimately though, he quickly shook it off. "But anyways, thanks to that little stunt Thanos pulled with that shiny glove of his, all the Worlds are being thrown into turmoil. The balance of Light and Dark tipping to and fro, and new threats are gallivanting around newly created bridges between the Worlds."

"So what do we do about it?" Luxu asked with a serious narrowed eye.

He had heard tales about the Mad Titan before, about his cruelty and his megalomaniac desire to reshape the Universe as he saw fit. Even his own Master, with all his power at his fingertips, wouldn't dare go up against him without a well-placed strategy.

The Master turned around to him, "At this point... well... absolutely nothing."

He walked right over to Luxu. "We keep to the shadows, and watch as the events unfold before us. Besides, if what you told me about those Guardians of Light are true, then it stands to reason that they'll be front and center of all the action. That is, if any of 'em still remain of course."

"Oh there will be a few of 'em out there, that I can be certain of." Luxu stated plainly, "Heck, they're just too stubborn to take a dirt nap."

The Master nodded his head but then fell silent for a while, as if he was trying to remember something else. And then it hit him.

"I almost forgot!" he exclaimed with a snap of his fingers, "How's my precious black box holding up?"

"Still as strong as the day you entrusted it to me," Luxu replied, "Although she has seen better days."

The Master scoffed, "You got that right. I mean, how'd you even look after it all this time? It looked like it's gone through a bloody warzone!"

Luxu shrugged lightly, "Well, I was keeping it close to my person for the first few decades, and I might've caused a few scratches here and there. But after a while, I got curious about what's happening out there that I hid it in a secluded area where no one could find it."

The Master had his hands on his hips, "And by that you mean the Skein of Severance?"

Luxu nodded, "Yup. Locked the labyrinth up tighter than a treasure chest. Of course Xehanort unlocked it again for the second conflict, but you knew that was coming, right Master?"

"And you're lucky my foresight was very extensive," the Master stated with a prideful tone and a pointed index finger, "Otherwise I would probably be chiding you now to go look for it again."

"But as for its secrets though... when do you suppose it's time to open it?"

The Master stared at him for a brief moment, before he threw back his head and let out a sharp bark of a laugh.

"Patience, my devoted apprentice! All good things comes to those who wait," he counselled with a hand on Luxu's shoulder.

He turned back to the Castle. "Right now, we let fate and destiny take its course, but we'll still keep our eyes and ears open on both the Keyblade wielders and Thanos. Whichever comes first anyways. And let's not forget those pesky forces of daemons and other evildoers taking a vacay on multiple foreign lands."

"And speaking of daemons..." Luxu spoke up curiously, "They don't seem to be like an extended branch of the Heartless."

The Master nodded his head, "And right you are! For all intents and purposes, they are REALLY bad news. Only a fool would dare size up to those freakazoids and think they stand a chance!"

Luxu considered the logic. "That makes sense... But what about your master plan?"

Slowly, the Master turned back to his pupil, but this time Luxu felt his aura change drastically.

"Don't worry about the ifs and whens for now," he stated, his voice suddenly cold and very serious, "Thanos is a mere block in the road, and when he's removed we'll proceed on with my plan. Understood?"

Knowing full well that this wasn't the time for more snarky remarks, Luxu bowed his head in respect. "Yes Master."

And then a second later, the Master sighed out in relief, back to his jolly self again.

"Good, okay! Thought I was gonna have to give another old boring lecture again," he said with a shake of his head.

With an outstretched palm, he conjured up a Corridor of Light to the side. "Come my star pupil! As that one guy said before: let's mosey on outta here! Gotta go meet the others and see to a bit of box cleaning!"

Luxu watched in amusement as his Master turned and brisked his way over to the portal, whistling a cheery tone as he did. With one last look at the building, he also turned and followed suit into the Corridor.

* * *

**A/N: And that is all for now! Did you enjoy it? Do you have questions about it? As always, feel free to leave a review!**

**Kairi: And be sure to stick around for more! The next chapter will introduce my brand new outfit for the story!**


	8. Chapter VII

"So how long has she been in there?" Selphie wondered aloud. Terra simply shrugged her shoulders beside her.

Currently, both girls were waiting just outside of the changing room, where a certain redhead had enclosed herself in. In fact, she had already bolted for it the moment the Gummi Ship took off.

No interactions, no exchanges whatsoever. She just made a beeline for the changing room.

While Selphie assumed that her friend was just excited to try out her new clothes, Terra remained skeptical. She saw the confliction in Kairi's eyes when they met, and they stayed that way ever since. Still though, she was a little curious as to what type of fighter garb Master Yen Sid had given her. If it was made for a combat situation like the Keyblade War, then it had to bear some sort of physical importance, didn't it? Of course she wouldn't know until Kairi finally re-emerged again.

How long had it been already? Probably around ten to fifteen minutes if she had to estimate. Did girls her age really take that long just to change? Well, Terra was no expert on the subject seeing as she had been isolated much of her childhood, but she was a keen observer. A reason why she kept glancing over to Selphie every couple of seconds or so. Judging her expressions was a good way to start analysing and learning the habits of general teenagers. Of course, it also helped to have a second or third opinion from either Olette or Naminé. Unfortunately though, Olette was currently busy getting a lecture by Donald way over at the cockpit, and Naminé had remained visibly distant since her interaction with Kairi earlier.

Impatience finally settling in, Selphie raised a fist, intending to knock on the dooe of the changing room. And then she paused. Where there should be door, was a curtain that obscured Kairi from view, save for her shadow and feet underneath.

_"Right... forgot about that..."_ Selphie cursed herself mentally as she lowered her hand.

Slowly and carefully, she spoke up, "Kairi? Are you okay in there?"

From inside, Kairi was fumbling around with the suitcase with a flustered look etched upon her face.

How embarrassing to think she had spent the last couple of minutes trying to open up the damned thing.

Eventually though, she sighed out in defeat and made a move towards the curtain.

Pulling it open, she addressed the pair, "You guys know how to open this lock?"

Raising an eyebrow, Selphie walked right over to the suitcase and knelt down beside it. She did a brief inspection.

"Hmm... doesn't seem like any alien lock that I've ever seen..." She looked back to Kairi, "Did Master Rinoa pass you a key or something?"

Kairi thought about it briefly then shook her head.

"Well... you'd probably need one to open this thing, Kai."

Frowning slightly at this, Kairi turned to Terra, who simply raised her hands in pure innocence. Even she had no idea about her Master's supposed clumsiness.

Suddenly, there was a spark of light as a beam shot right in-between them.

The three girls cried out in alarm and backed away, their wide eyes trailing the beam all the way over to the lock of the suitcase. A second later and a click was heard and the beam dissipated.

Kairi's face scrunched up in a mixture confusion and shock. And then there was a sharp cough behind her.

She turned around, seeing Lea standing there with an unamused look on his face. He was holding his Keyblade in a lazy manner. Her eyes traced his weapon. It sank in seconds later.

"Ugh..." she moaned, slapping her forehead with a hand, "Right..."

She really had to start remembering again about her weapon that was shaped like a key and had the ability to open any lock.

Lea smirked at her, "Guess my work here's done."

With a two-finger salute to Selphie and Terra, he turned and sauntered off, whistling a little tune as he went.

Retreating back into the changing room, Kairi quickly closed the curtains and went about with her inspection of her new garbs.

Standing outside with renewed patience, Selphie whispered quietly to Terra. "How long do you think it'll be this time?"

Terra eyed her quizzically before she responded, "Ten minutes, I guess...?"

"And I'll bet 600 munny Kairi'll be out in twenty," Selphie grinned with an elbow nudge to Terra's arm.

The latter simply blinked at her, confused by why the teen would be betting money on something as trivial as a time frame. But Selphie's gaze was already back to the changing room, unaware of the other girl's befuddled expression.

Meanwhile, back in the cockpit, Naminé was seated some ways away from the others. Her eyes distantly following Donald's movement as he continued to rant and quack and point fingers at both Lea and Olette. Apparently the former was now also getting the full lecture treatment about leaving Olette alone by herself and leaving his Dark Corridor opened long enough for her to follow through.

Tifa on the other hand, was currently standing some distance away, her back facing towards Naminé and her arms folded across her chest. She was staring out into the vast sea of darkness, possibly lost in her own thoughts. Although what type of thoughts, Naminé couldn't say, for she had no clear view of her emotions and expressions.

But sadly, Naminé couldn't bring herself to care about any of that. Not right now. Not when the horror of her actions earlier was still fresh in her mind. There was no other way to put it.

**She. **

**Had. **

**Slapped. **

**Kairi. **

Slapped her Somebody.

Right across the face.

In a heat of pure frustration and rage.

It was hard to believe that something so mind-shattering like would have happened in no less than a few seconds, and that absolutely terrified her.

Never was Naminé someone who would simply hit someone just to make them either shut up or listen to her. She can be angry of course, but she had always exercised a huge amount of patience and restraint when it comes to putting up with so many shenanigans at once.

_"So why not with Kairi then?" _her voice questioned from the back of her mind.

What made Kairi so different that it would push her Nobody to cross that line? Was it because of their relations to one another? Or was it because of something else?

Either way, she didn't care to dwell on it. She'd rather wallow in her own pit of misery.

"Are you alright, child?" a gentle elderly tone cut through her thoughts.

Naminé looked up to see that Mdm Umi was standing right beside her, a look of concern on her face.

Mustering up the best smile she could, Naminé replied back, "I'm okay Mdm Umi. Thank you for your concern."

Mdm Umi's gaze softened slightly, "You speak the words, and yet your face speaks a disparate tale altogether."

Naminé sighed on the inside.

Curse her uncontrollable emotions! Now she was starting to look weak in front of Kairi's grandmother!

As if she could sense her inner struggle, Mdm Umi placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Naminé my dear, it is quite alright to let out those inner feelings," she consoled, "Having it locked away for too long would do your body and heart more harm than good in the long run."

Feelings. That was concept that still felt rather new to the former Nobody, even as months went by since her rebirth.

Naminé closed her eyes and looked away. "Apologies. But I do not deserve any form of kindness from you."

Mdm Umi raised a brow, "Oh? How so?"

The blonde clenched her fist tightly.

"B-Because... I-I..." she stuttered, "Because I slapped her. I slapped her because I was stupid and acting irrationally!"

Her outburst ceased all conversations in the room, and all eyes were on her in seconds.

Feeling stupid and embarassed, she pulled away her hand from Mdm Umi's and she buried her face in both palms.

"I... don't know what came over me... It felt like an impulse... like something took hold of my anger and controlled me..."

Her mind replayed that scene over and over again.

The way Kairi's face snapped sideways from the force. The way she stared at her with wide eyes full of emotions.

"I... don't know how I'm supposed to react to that... I don't know if I can move on from this..."

A crestfallen look befell Mdm Umi and she inched closer to gently pat the weeping blonde on her shoulders. "Child, my granddaughter and her friends have told me much about you. It simply pains my frail heart and mind to see you having to pull through so much in your life."

Naminé sniffed and sobbed uncontrollably, "I-It... h-hurts... s-so... m-much... I-I w-want i-it t-to s-stop... b-but I-I can't..."

"Yes. I agree. The past can hurt an awful lot. It can be such an enduring thing, especially to someone at your age, Naminé," Mdm Umi counselled confortingly, "But the way I see it, you have two options to choose from. Two simple options."

Naminé looked back to her, her eyes slightly red and her cheeks tear-stained.

"You can either run from it... or learn from it."

"R-Really...?"

Mdm Umi nodded, "Whenever you feel like you are in such a tight spot, always remember that there will always be ways for you to overcome it."

"You seem to... know so much about pain and moving on..." Naminé noted, "You've... been in a similar situation before...?"

Mdm Umi nodded, "It was such a long time ago... I did something I never should have done, and I came to regret it. But then someone came to me, and gave some very good advice. They stayed with me for most of my life, hence why I'm now sharing this with you, Naminé. You must learn to always stay strong, even in times of adversity. Especially since your sister must now take on a great new task."

Naminé blinked at her, "S-Sister?"

Mdm Umi chuckled softly, "Kairi, my dear. Since you were split from my granddaugter and became your own person, I think it is quite fitting."

"I appreciate the gesture, Mdm Umi," Naminé said with a smile, "But I don't really see myself as Kairi's twin."

"Kairi seems to think otherwise but I will leave the decision up to you, child. And that Shion girl too. I think you three can become the best sisters any one family could ever have."

"A-Actually, it's _X_ion, and you're right. I suppose I and she can consider calling myself Kairi's siblings. Aside from the hair colour and all."

_"If only Xion was still here..."_ she added mentally in a brief respite of sadness.

Shaking it off, Naminé said politely, "Anyways, thank you Mdm Umi. I really needed that."

Mdm Umi smiled gently, "Anything to help Kairi and you kids through this period. I just hope that all of you will be able to pull through to the end. The Worlds need you."

"Yowie wowie!" Selphie suddenly squealed out, "Look at you!"

Everyone's attention turned around.

"I... don't know if I fit well into this..." another voice spoke up. It was Kairi's and she sounded awkward.

"Nonsense! I bet all the guys will swoon once they see you!"

"I think Master Yen Sid overdid the combat style... a little too much."

"Master Yen Sid is wise," a third voice, Terra's, stated.

"What's goin' on back there?" Donald asked aloud, his brows raised in confusion.

"Kairi's trying on some new duds, remember?" Lea responded with folded arms, "I think she's just reemerged again from the changing room."

Olette formed an O shape with her lips, and before anyone else knew it, she was bolting out of the cockpit. Naminé quickly followed suit seconds later.

Both Lea and Donald rolled their eyes.

"Girls..." they moaned together exasperated.

Tifa simply glared at them both unamused, whilst Mdm Umi let out a small chuckle.

Back at the main lobby, Olette and Naminé had arrived at the changing room, joining the remaining teen girls to view Kairi in her new clothes.

"Oh wow..." Olette muttered with wide eyes, "That's a pretty nifty outfit, Kairi."

"You think so?" Kairi asked sheepishly, as she moved around a bit to get a feel for her outfit.

It consisted of a light red sleeveless funnel neck with a linear zipper running down diagonally that curved inward to the left slightly, revealing a small part of her stomach, a dark grey pauldron that was strapped to her right shoulder, a gauntlet made of hardened leather that she wore on her right hand, a black arm band and a black fingerless glove on her left, and dark blue jeans that were fitted with knee guards and had decorative X leather straps running down the sides. The only thing she had kept from her previous clothing were her black leather boots.

After a few seconds, she looked back to the rest.

"It feels like I'm going to attend a gothic funeral or something," she added.

"If you were, then you'd probably be wearing all black leather and spikes, and have your ears and everywhere else pierced," Selphie pointed out, "Thankfully you're not like those creeps, Kai."

_"And hopefully I never will be..." _Kairi added to herself with a subtle shudder.

Her sightings of those types of teens always weirded her out.

"Um, Kairi?" Terra then called from behind the redhead, having moved to the opened chest, "Are you going to wear this?"

All the girls looked to her, and the chain necklace she was holding out in her hand. Kairi especially eyed it skeptically.

"Not so sure. I think this thing is enough as a fashion accessory," she replied warmly, her fingers brushing the rim of the funnel covering her neck.

"But it came with the clothes, didn't it?" Terra pointed out, "It has to mean something. Master Yen Sid does not give special garbs if it does not have any special significance."

Kairi bit her inner lip, and Olette voiced out her thoughts.

"Nail on the head."

Kairi pulled out her own precious necklace, and stared longingly at the black string and the pearl that had hung around her neck for most of her life. Her grandmother had told her that it had been a gift from her grandfather before he passed on. And while she had heard tales of him, Kairi had no memory to go by, so she kept the necklace as a way to keep her grandfather close to her.

But now though, was not the time to be reminiscing on the days of the past. The present and the future was at stake and she needed all available resources she could take.

While she was not certain that a victory over Thanos was even a remote possibility, Kairi was willing to take every chance to grow even stronger and master every ability known to Keyblade wielders.

With a soft sigh, she fumbled with her necklace a little before she removed the pearl. Stuffing the black string back into her pocket, she walked over to Terra who promptly placed the chain necklace into her free open palm. Kairi quickly attached the pearl to it and proceeded to strap it around her neck. She winced slightly at the coldness of the hard metal against her skin, but it was manageable enough.

"Heads up back there!" Donald's voice shouted out, "We're coming up on Radiant Garden!"

At once, all the girls raced back over to the cockpit, where Donald pointed a finger overhead. And there it was, right before them, the ever-beautiful World that housed the great castle of Ansem the Wise.

Handful of the team bore mixed feelings about returning there.

Tifa's lips pursed slightly and had a conflicted look.

Donald could only sigh out sadly, remembering everything he had been through with Sora and Goofy in that world. Ranging from getting trapped inside a computer (by his doing of course), to fighting in a war against a thousand Heartless.

Kairi on the other hand, wasn't to sure what to make of it all. True, this was her birth home before Maleficent invaded, and she should feel a sense of ecstasy for actually returning back to where she truly belonged. And yet, the more she tried to think about that point, the more she felt like a stranger to this supposedly foreign land. But hey, at least her grandmother felt a little bit happy to be coming back here again. After all, considering her age next to hers, she's lived there longer than Kairi's been in existence in this Universe.

"So what's the plan when we touchdown?" Tidus asked aloud. Kairi's fists clenched, "Sora's got a couple of allies living there. We ought to seek them out first, apprise them of the situation."

"Mhmm. Agreed," Tifa concurred with a nod, "Leon's always happy to help out Sora or his friends."

Terra noted that her tone sounded awfully forced to be serious. Donald also nodded his head in agreement.

"And what if they're also dusted?" Selphie pointed out worriedly.

Silence hung over the cockpit.

"L-Let's not think about the what ifs yet, okay?" Kairi replied back, trying to be a little bit optimistic, "Besides, I don't think Leon's willing to go down that easily."

"Same with Yuffie," Tifa added.

"Alright ya palookas! Strap yourselves in!" Donald said, "We're entering the atmosphere in two minutes!"

At his orders, everyone quickly went back over to their seats and buckled their seatbelts. And as the Gummi Ship passed through the barrier surrounding Radiant Garden, Kairi could not help but anxiously wonder how she was going to lead them all in Sora's place.

* * *

**A/N: And that's that, ladies and gentlemen! Wow, who knew that Kairi's grandmother could give an encouraging speech ala Rafiki?**

**Kairi: She does tend to do that.**

**Sora: Yeah! Like that time when she spoke to me after I got beaten up by that bully!**

**Kairi: I thought it was because you lost your favorite plushie?**

**Lea: Whoa whoa! Sora's gotta plushie toy?**

**Sora: Uh... heh heh...**

**Riku: Like I said, a teenager acting like a kid.**

**Sora: Hey! I can act grown up too!**

**Riku: Oh really? Name one time that you actually acted like your age.**

**Sora: That's easy! There was this one time... um... uh... ...**

**Riku: You don't have one, don't you?**

**Sora: O-Of course I do! Just give me a minute...**

**Roxas: I've... no idea what's going on right now...**

**A/N: You and me both, Rox, you and me both. Anywho, I'll end things right here before Sora gets anymore humiliated. Did y'all like Kairi's new outfit? I try to imagine properly Kairi getting down in more badass combat gear. The next chapter will begin the Radiant Garden arc, so stay tuned for that one! Ciao for now!**


	9. Chapter VIII

**A/N: Alrighty! Hello once again ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to another chapter of this grand, glorious story!**

**Lea: So what've we got for today, boss?**

**A/N: Well, in brief terms, this marks the start of the adventures across multiple Worlds! Of course this time however, Sora's not gonna be at the forefront of it.**

**Kairi: That would be me right here!**

**Sora: About time you get some more time in the limelight Kairi!**

**Riku: Video games don't do you justice at all.**

**Xion: At least she's appeared in more games than me.**

**Riku: I think you have more screen time though.**

**Sora: W-Wait, really?!**

**Kairi: Are you sure about that Riku?**

**Riku: They don't call it "358/2 Days" for nothing.**

**Lea: And that's almost an entire year.**

**Kairi: Yeah, and I was in school whilst everyone else was galloping across the Universe doing fighting stuff.**

**A/N: Aw, don't worry about it Kai. That's what this story's here for. Remember? To do your character some justice for all those wasted moments?**

**Kairi: You bet. And speaking of that, enjoy the chapter you guys!**

* * *

With the creaking of its hinges, the wooden door opened, providing a passage right into the room it was housing.

With silent footfalls that echoed throughout the empty area, two individuals stepped right in and made their way to the table in front of the.

They didn't frequent this place often, but today was an exception. They had a purporse. An extremely dire one.

Stopping at the table, both of them began browsing through the piles of paperwork that had been stacked neatly in rows by its owner. All manner of perfection ruined within mere seconds.

After a couple of minutes of searching, one of them let out a sigh.

"No good. There's nothing here."

"But there's gotta be!" his partner exclaimed desperately, "This is the last room in his house we're searching!"

"Then that only means one thing: either Professor Even was very thorough in how his hid or erased his research, or he had taken them with him when he disappeared."

"But where could he have gone? There's not a lot of places in Radiant Garden that he could be hiding in."

"Relax Yuffie, that is why we had our newest ally scour the other districts and he should be reporting back soon."

"I still don't know how you can suddenly trust him, Squall. He _was_ part of the Organization after all. Not to mention he was one mean cookie."

"If Sora and Lea says that he wishes to start anew, then I'll take their word for it."

His eyes still glued to the scattered paper sheets, Squall then instructed, "Call Ienzo. Tell him that most of the professor's research is gone."

Her lips pursed tightly, Yuffie turned and brisked out of the room.

Once she was outside, she pulled out her flip phone and began dialling in Ienzo's number, although she was also grumbling something under her breath.

Just as she was about to raise it to her ear however, she heard a voice from close by.

**"GRAB HER!"**

It was all Yuffie could do to scream as three figures pounced at her from different angles.

* * *

Her boots crunched against the dirt-covered rock surface as Kairi led the group across the terrain.

Fifteen minutes ago, the Gummi Ship had landed atop a cliff overlooking a deep canyon, and now as per Tifa's directions, they were just about close to the border walls of Radiant Garden. Still though, it hadn't stopped some of the teens in the group from complaining about the trek, much to Donald's dismay.

"Are we there yet...?" Selphie moaned out with sagged shoulders, although Kairi assumed that to be a dramatic act.

Donald's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, "No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

The duck's knuckles clenched tightly, repressing his temper.

"C'mon! Lighten' up, Selph!" Tidus encouraged as he strode up to her side, "I don't know about Miss Tifa Lockhart that well, but she clearly knows this place well."

"Know this place? I grew up here," Tifa said to him.

Selphie looked to her, "Grew up? Here? In this canyon?"

Lea and Donald both resisted the urge to facepalm.

"In Radiant Garden," Tifa clarified, giving the teen a somewhat curious stare.

"It must feel real nice to be coming back here," Kairi commented, bringing the older female's attention to her, "The Committee's probably going to be thrilled to see you again."

Tifa's face was unreadable for a couple of seconds before she faced forward.

"Yeah, I suppose so." she muttered out distantly.

Eventually, the group arrived at a plateau overlooking the entire complex of Radiant Garden, and all eyes were on the castle glistening in the distance.

"My... it has been a while since I've lived there..." Mdm Umi muttered to herself, and Kairi thought she was probably reminiscing on old and fond memories.

And then she felt a bit of sadness creeping into her thoughts. The more times she tried to remember her childhood days and the harder she tried to fish them out, she couldn't. She just couldn't. She knew that she was born and raised in this World for the first few years of her life, but her mind was a haze on that part of her life. It was like trying to find a seat in total blindness.

Kairi let out a sigh. If only if there was a way to recall those early memories.

"Hang on... Who's that guy?" Olette suddenly piped up, and pointed her finger right in front of them.

Everyone followed her gaze, and only now they were realising that they were not alone on the cliff.

There was another stranger standing close to the edge, staring right at the town. He was wearing what appeared to be a fedora hat and a long coat.

Raising a brow at this, Kairi quickly walked over to the stranger, and the rest of the group followed closely behind.

Tense silence followed as they closed the gap.

Kairi's hand flexed slightly at her side, ready to summon her Keyblade at the first sign of trouble.

And then, as if he sensed their arrival, the stranger slowly turned around. There was a look of curiosity on his face as he regarded them.

"Well now, this is quite an unexpected surprise," he commented, "Tis not often that you see other travellers passing along this route."

He looked at Kairi for a brief minute before eyeing the others behind her. A smirk gracing his features, he looked back to Kairi.

"Quite an ensemble you are bringing along," he noted, "But you ought to be more careful with the elder lass. The canyons are naught but a perilous ground for innocent folk. Wouldn't you agree, my dear?"

Kairi frowned slightly. First impressions were telling her that this person was both creeping her out and pissing her off at the same time.

Still though, she stayed by her decorum and replied back, "That's my grandma, and thanks for the advice. I'll keep that in mind the next time we come by this way."

"And you should! Just imagine the horrors that are gallivanting around these parts." the stranger said with a dramatic flair, "Bandits, mercenaries, creatures that thrive in the dark. My, such terrible things, I tell you! It would be an unfortunate circumstance should you run into any of them."

Kairi's eyes narrowed slightly, "Right..."

Why does she have this feeling that his words were more of a veiled threat?

Also picking up on the suspicion were Lea and Tifa who both walked up to her sides.

"And who might you be to be telling us all this, sir?" the latter inquired warily.

The stranger's amber eyes widened slightly. "Oh dear oh dear, it suddenly occurred to me that I've yet to properly introduce myself. Oh, how rude of me!"

He reached up to his hat and took it from his mess of long and shaggy red-violet hair.

"Ardyn Izunia. At your humble service!" he greeted politely and with a flourish he took a grand, dramatic bow. Like a true theatric performance.

Tifa stared at him, wondering if she had heard of him somewhere before.

"Well, Mr Izunia. Thanks for your advice, and for the chit-chat, but we've got other places to be right now, so forgive us if we seem to be in a bit of a rush," Kairi stated bluntly then gesturing to the others, she began to head off.

The group eyed Ardyn warily as they too began to depart.

"But of course! I wouldn't ever wish to keep you lot from completing your journey," Ardyn stated as he watched them all leave, "Safe travels now! And do remember to keep your eyes peeled for the daemons!"

Most of the group ignored his words, but Naminé and Terra both halted.

What did he just say?!

They both turned to look back at him, only to find that the mysterious man was gone!

**Disappeared.**

**Vanished.**

Like he was **never even there** to begin with.

Their eyes widened and their hearts pounding hard in their chests, both girls eyed one another worriedly before they raced off to rejoin the rest.

Soon after, the group arrived in the town, although in an area that most were unfamiliar with.

Keyword: _most_ of them.

"Hmm... From the looks of things... this has to be District Five," Tifa mused thoughtfully.

Kairi turned to her, "You recognise this place?"

Tifa smiled a little, "I attended school here with Cloud, Leon and Yuffie."

"Ah, so you were like what, the cool kids on the block?" Tidus asked with a grin.

"Far from it, to be honest. But times were different back then. Cloud was always the dreamer. Leon was... somewhat less broody. And Yuffie - actually, I think she's still the same as always."

"RARGH!" A familiar female voice screamed at the top of her lungs.

Everyone turned in the direction of the closest house, and spotted the newcomer turning the corner. She appeared to be running for some reason.

Coming to a halt near them, Yuffie started looking all around.

"COME ON OUT AND FACE ME, YOU BUNCH OF COWARDS!" she hollered out angrily.

Staring at her friend in mild amusement, Tifa greeted politely, "Good to see you again Yuffie. How're you-"

"Yeah yeah, good to see you too Tiff," Yuffie cut her off abruprly with a wave of her hand, "SHOW YOURSELVES YOU SONS OF BITCHES!"

Alarmed by this, Kairi took a step forth and asked with concern, "Are you okay, Yuffie? What's the matter?"

Yuffie turned to her, her eyes full of heated rage, "I was busy making a phone call to Ienzo when all of a sudden, BAM! Three bozos jump at me from out of nowhere, thinking they could make easy pickings outta this Ninja!"

"And by the way you're hunting from them, it seems they're right," Tifa noted with a playful smile.

Yuffie glared daggers at her before she spun back to Kairi. She took notice of her clothing especially.

"By the way, great to see you Kairi. How's life? Has Sora been treating you well? And swell new outfit by the way. Who tailored it for you? Do you have his number? What does he wear in the evenings?"

Tifa coughed harshly into her hand, bringing her friend back to the topic at hand.

"A-Anyways, have you guys seens those three bozos?" Yuffie asked hastily, "I think one of them was about... this tall?"

She levelled with her hand at an estimated height - just at her waist level. "Of course I think he was bending his knees a little and all but-"

There was some trash bins close by that were toppled over.

Yuffie whirled in that direction and pointed her finger, "Aha! Gotcha now you swiping racoons!"

She started racing off again, but before she rounded the corner, she shouted over her shoulders, "Squall's just a few junctions down! He'll fill you in on the - hey you, get back here!"

She was gone in a millisecond.

Everyone stared on dumbfounded.

"Um... okay...?" Kairi uttered out dumbly.

Taking the Ninja's advice to heart, the group continued on down the pavement, pass the handful of houses and buildings.

They arrived at one house that stood out from the rest.

Its structure looked more modernised in comparison, with a few details here and there that would almost make anyone believe that it was futuristic.

"Well, Professor Even was always said to have a foresight of a visionary," Tifa commented knowingly.

"Too bad his Nobody wasn't that bright," Donald added in.

Her blue eyes narrowed in seriousness, Kairi said, "If this is the place, then Leon should be inside somewhere."

She stepped right up to the front door, and took notice that it was slightly ajar. Pushing it open, Kairi started moving her way inside and-

"HEAD'S UP!" An unfamiliar teen cried out mid-running and he tried to skid to a stop.

Kairi's eyes widened merely a fraction before he collided with her in full force.

They both tumbled to the ground, and the teen landed right on Kairi's chest and came face-to-face with her.

With wide teal eyes of sheepishness and his long blonde bangs dangling before her, he exclaimed, "So sorry miss. Gotta bolt!"

He shoved off of her and zipped right past the others as they made their way inside.

"Yikes!" Olette cried out.

"What the hey?!" Selphie exclaimed.

Tidus who got brushed on his arm, hollered after the teen, "Hey buddy! Excuse you!"

Mdm Umi was almost knocked over, but thankfully Terra and Naminé were holding her steadily. The former shot a glance at the escaping teen, and quickly caught sight of something on his behind as he rounded a corner.

Was that a _tail_?

Rushing over to the still-downed Kairi, Tifa casted a low-level Cure spell to heal any minor cuts from the harsh fall while Olette helped her up.

"You alright?" the latter asked worriedly.

Kairi nodded and hummed softly.

Just then, there were sharp footsteps and emerging from one of the rooms was none other than the leader of the Restoration Committee himself.

He was panting tirelessly and he had his gunblade gripped tightly in his right hand. While he appeared none the worse for wear, his clothes appeared slightly charred.

Alarmed by this, Tifa quickly brisked over to him. "Leon? What happened to you?"

Acknowledging her presence, Squall could not help but smile a little.

"Good to see you again, Tifa," he muttered in a welcoming tone.

Tifa frowned slightly, "No, really! What happened in here? And what was it with that kid who bolted his way past us?"

Squall's expression quickly changed back to his usual stoic demeanor.

"He stole something from Even's research lab. We need to catch him. Any information it holds could help us in the long run."

Kairi nodded her head, "Leave it to us, Leon. We'll catch that thief."

"Actually, you can call me-"

"Selphie! Tidus! Terra! Lea! You're with me!" Kairi suddenly barked out.

"Yes ma'am!" Tidus exclaimed and stood at attention like an obedient soldier, which got an amused smirk from Lea.

"Olette! Naminé! Stay here and keep my grandma safe!"

Both girls nodded their heads.

"Tifa! Stay here with Leon! He'll need some backup just incase that thief decides to come back." Tifa hummed with a nod.

Squall looked almost perplexed, "Kairi, you can call me Sq-"

"Alright guys, let's go!" Kairi shouted and she led the charge right out of the house.

As soon as they left, an awkward silence fell over the remaining few.

"That... was anti-climatic..." Olette noted, and Naminé and Mdm Umi both nodded their heads.

"Looks like Kairi's different compared to the last time I saw her," Squall noted admirably.

Tifa shrugged her shoulders, "It tends to happen one way or another. Especially since Sora's gone now."

Squall's eyes widened, "W-What?!"

Tifa sighed, "It's a long story, but let's just say that the dust thing is happening across all the other Worlds too."

Squall took a few minutes to process the info.

"Then this situation is becoming worse than I feared..." he muttered with a fraction of worry in his tone, "And with Sora gone too..."

He looked back to the others, "Come. We'd better rendevous with Ansem and the others. They'll want to hear about this too."

They started heading towards the door.

"By the way, you wanted to say something earlier, right?" Tifa asked, "What was it anyways?"

Squall turned to her and smiled, "You can start calling me Squall again."

She blinked at him, "_What?!_"

* * *

**A/N: Man oh man! Way to end things on a cliffhanger! And what a way to start of the Hollow Bastion arc!**

**Kairi: I still find it hard to believe that Leon's name wasn't his real one.**

**Sora: I think Yuffie sorta mentioned it when I first met them...**

**A/N: Anyways, to address one review regarding the new attire design, unfortunately I must apologise that no, I do not have a drawing of it. If it were down to me, I would have it sketched out in a heartbeat, but sadly I haven't been drawing for years ****😅. Sorry if that disappoints you! But if any of you guys like to sketch it out, feel free to do so! I'm welcome to any variations of Kairi's new outfit!**

**Also, I was quite excited to introduce Ardyn Izunia! I mean, he's one of my favourite villains in Final Fantasy, and what better way than to have him act all so enigmatic and creepy just like in XV? And kudos to whoever figures out the identity of the thief that bumped into Kairi.**

**Kairi: And I suspect it be pretty obvious to figure out the other two once their partner's profession has been figured out.**

**A/N: And as stated above earlier, this is the beginning of the Hollow Bastion arc, and basically this ties into the early part of the time period between Thanos' snap and Captain Marvel rescuing Tony Stark, although chapters will be vastly segmented for each day. So keep counting down those days, cos I know I will too. See you guys later!**


	10. Chapter IX

**A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back to another chapter! Hope I didn't keep you waiting so long 'cause life has been craaaaaaazzzzzy!**

**(Suddenly, a blitzball hits the author in the back of the head)**

**A/N: OW! Hey, will you blockheads cut that out?!**

**(Turns to see Sora and Tidus playing blitzball tag with Lea and Roxas)**

**Sora: Oh, sorry! Tidus was just trying to show off again!**

**Lea: Like the first twenty times weren't enough...**

**Tidus: Aw, c'mon guys! Where's your sense of fun!**

**(He dribbles another and deliver a sharp kick to the opposing team)**

**Roxas: Argh!**

**(Doubles over with a bulge on his forehead)**

**Tidus: Oops...**

**A/N: *sighs* Anywho, read on and enjoy yourselves folks! Apologies in advance if it appears like nothing much is happening, on a side note, and do let me know if chapters are feeling drawn out. I'll always do my damnest to improve on them! And with that, I leave you to-GAH?!**

**(Falls face first onto the floor from a blitzball attack)**

**Lea: You hit the author!**

**Tidus: Oopsie daisy...**

* * *

They ran and ran, as fast as their endurance would allow, and as far as their legs would carry them. They sped right across the town, never stopping for even a split second. Doing so could mean their inevitable capture.

It also didn't help that there was a hot-tempered Ninja who was hot on their heels.

She chased them all over. From Sector 5, they zipped right by Sector 6 and were now on their way over to No. 7.

As he started to feel the burning toll on his lungs, one of the two thieves huffed out, "I told you it wasn't a good idea to target her like that!"

"Hey, don't pin on me! It was Zidane's idea!" his partner yelled back hotly, wiping sweat from his forehead and his slightly paled blonde hair, "Plus, when he said "it'll be a doozy of a heist" I expected something a lot more adventurous than being chased! _Again!_"

The former shrugged, "To be fair... this hasn't been one of his brightest ideas. But let it be said that our buddy's never-GYAH!"

They were interrupted by a flying box of apples that barely missed the former.

Both turned their eyes back at Yuffie, now resorting to using anything she could get her hands on to hit them.

"I'LL SEND YOUR SOULS TO IFRIT ONCE I'VE HANDED YOU GUYS AN ASS-KICKING!"

The latter thief gulped, "I don't like the sound of that..."

"Me neither, so run like hell for the love of Bahamut!"

As Yuffie continued her hot pursuit, back in Sector 5, Kairi, Tidus, Selphie, Terra and Lea were chasing after the third member of the trio.

Despite the consideration that he had a distance of a headstart, they thought it best to follow along the path he had taken during his exit. It led them through a series of twists and turns, corners and alleys, until they finally arrived at a roadblock.

Kairi stared up at the huge wall that towered over them. "Looks like the road stops here."

Lea tapped a finger on his chin, "If memory serves me correctly, this must be the wall dividing Sector 5 from 6."

"Then is it possible that he climbed over it?" Selphie asked and pointed at its surface, "There seems to be parts where he can get footholds."

Lea's brows furrowed, "Maybe... but then again..."

He marched over to the wall, and gave it a light tap with his finger. A split second later and there was a bright flash. Everyone excluding Lea jumped back at the sight of electrical currents snaking all over the wall.

"Heh, would ya look at that? It still works!" Lea grinned.

"So there's a barrier protecting the walls," Kairi noted.

"Uh huh. A precautionary measure Ansem the Wise took, especially ever since he lost his star warrior to madness."

"Star warrior?" Tidus asked quizzically.

"Long story kid." Was all Lea said on that matter, but Kairi could sense a bit of hesitation radiating from the redhead.

Just then, they heard a voice nearby growl out, "Oh you've gotta be kiddin' me..."

Kairi's eyes darted upwards to the rooftops, and then she spotted him.

The blonde jerk with a tail that was staring dumbfounded at the wall.

Wait, a _tail_?!

The thief let out a defeated sigh, "And here I thought Lucis' shiny glass dome was bad enough..."

Obviously he must have seen Lea's demonstration of the electrical barrier.

Besides Kairi, everyone's attention was also now directed at him.

"Hey you!" Selphie hollered at him, enough to break her friend out of her daze.

The thief looked down to them, and his eyes widened slightly once he saw Kairi. It was for a brief second though as he quickly sported a huge grin.

"Hello again there Miss," he greeted with a flourish of a bow, "I see you didn't get enough of me last time since we bumped into each other."

He gave her a wink, which almost tempted Kairi to shudder.

Lea was unimpressed by his antic. "Look pal, we don't wanna hurt you but you better give back what you stole or we'll do things the hard way."

"Oh, you mean this thing?" The thief pulled out a rolled up schematic paper and waved it in front of the others tauntingly. "I don't know... As it turns out, something like this costs a huge fortune down in the black market. It'd be a huge waste to let this thing be studied by boring white coats, doncha' think?"

"Better in their hands then in those of a thief!" Selphie snapped back.

"Last chance buddy," Lea warned cautiously, "Hand it over."

The thief actually took a moment to "really" consider it.

"Eh... NO!"

He zipped off in a blink of an eye.

"Okay, to give him credit, he's got style," Tidus remarked.

Lea looked as if he couldn't wait to get his hands on the kid and he summoned his Keyblade.

"We're going tag team on that punk," he declared, "Kairi leads one group. I'll lead the other. We'll circle around and ambush that little sneak, and I'll do the maiming."

"Good thinking Lea, but we're better off without the maiming part," Kairi noted.

Terra nodded her head in agreement.

Her eyes darted upwards to the rooftops, "Perhaps we can track him better by the roofs? A thief of his talents must have a certain skill to evade the authorties."

Kairi nodded her head, impressed by her quick thinking.

"I'm good with high places!" Tidus volunteered, "Just give the word, you guys!"

"Then it's settled," Kairi declared.

She turned to Lea, "Keep your eyes and ears peeled around the districts, Lea. We'll do the same from the top."

Nodding his head, Lea and Selphie turned and headed on out.

Meanwhile Kairi turned to Terra, "Think you can give me a lift?"

Smiling at this, Terra embraced her tightly and shot up into the sky again. A few seconds later and Kairi set her feet down upon the tile-covered roof.

Tidus climbed right up later, much to the redhead's surprised reaction.

"You never told me you could climb buildings," she commented.

"... Then it's better not to talk about _that _incident..." Came a sheepish reply as the blonde rubbed his neck.

He earned himself a questionable look from Kairi.

Terra fumbled timidly with her fingers, "Um... I don't wish to interrupt, but there's a thief on the run somewhere."

Kairi snapped in her direction, suddenly reminded of their current objective.

"O-Oh, right! C'mon!" she exclaimed and led the way forwards.

_"But I'm getting to the bottom of this,"_ she added at the back of her mind.

The trio raced across the rooftops, which for Kairi, founded the experience to be quite thrilling once she got the hang of it. Up here there were no walls to block them. They were free to traverse across the entire sector with ease. Tidus moved swiftly, as if he had been doing this his whole life. As for Terra however, she still wasn't quite used to being on an adventure yet, hence her struggle to keep up with the other two. In the end, she quickly gave up and went back to taking to the air. She caught up to them pretty quickly and maintained her speed alongside them both.

They kept on moving, until they arrived at an open junction area. Down below, the pathway branched out in three different directions.

Kairi narrowed her gaze as she scouted them out. "Now where could he have run off to...?"

Tidus frowned with folded hands, "Not a places for someone like 'im to hide. His blonde hair and tail would stick out."

Terra maintained silence as she scanned the vicinity. And then she noticed something. It could be because her vision was more acute compared to the average person, or she was just plain lucky, for she saw what appeared to be a tail wiggling far in the distance in the left-most pathway. Not mention a fair bit of trash she could see flying out from the corner.

"There!" she pointed with her finger, "I see a tail!"

Kairi nodded her head, "Well, seems that you're on point Tidus. Let's go!"

The trio sped off straight for the left path. As they got closer, both Kairi and Tidus also picked up on the trash that was being flung all around.

And then suddenly, the tail disappeared behind the corner.

Kairi gritted her teeth, "Hurry!"

And then they finally halted to a stop once they got a view on what's behind the corner.

Kairi's lips were pursed, seeing what appeared to be an opened garbage chute lid that had been hidden underneath the trash heap.

"He went in through there," Terra noted.

Tidus hummed, "Pretty nifty escape route for a thief."

Kairi asked Terra to bring her back down to the ground, and the apprentice quickly did so. Tidus followed a split second later.

Walking right up to the chute, Kairi stared right down into the inky blackness. It went on endlessly, like a pathway into the darkness.

Suddenly, there was a ringtone sounding off, and a tune akin to a theme from an arcade game began playing.

Kairi recognised the tune though, and she quickly shuffled through her pockets. Pulling put her Gummiphone, she glanced at the screen. It was an unknown number, as far as she could tell.

Tidus peered over to see it as well. "You gonna get that Kai?"

She hesitated for a few more seconds before she answered it.

"Hello?" she asked as she held it up to her ear.

_"Kairi, it's me." _Came the stoic adult voice from the other end.

It was a no-brainer who it was.

"Leon?" Kairi acknowledged with genuine surprise, "I didn't know you have a Gummiphone too."

There was a small "hmph!" from Squall's end. _"Then it would seem that Ienzo hasn't told you yet. Even the Committee's got these devices too."_

Kairi could not argue with that.

_"Anyways, Tifa and I are en route back to the Castle. Don't worry, your grandmother's safe with us." _

That was one worry off her chest.

_"How goes the search for the thieves?" _

"We caught sight of him and we decided to split up. Terra, Tidus and I spotted him heading into the-wait hang on, did you say "thieves"?"

_"There have been reports that three unknown individuals have been stealing from shops over the past two hours. One of them fits the description of the teen who got the drop on me earlier.__ Yuffie's location is an unknown for now, and I'd __like__ to presume that she's hunting down the other two. Kairi, if you or your teammates spot them, let us know ASAP."_

Kairi nodded, "Got it."

_"So back to the third thief, you were saying something earlier?" _

"We spotted him heading right into a garbage chute," she reported, her eyes still focused on the emptiness far below her, "I don't know where it leads to, but I've a good feeling that it's going to stink a lot."

Squall let out a chuckle, _"Well, you're not wrong about that. There are numerous chutes that run underneath the town, and all of them connect to..." _

There was a sudden pause, which slowly began to worry Kairi as the seconds ticked by.

"Um... L-Leon? Are you alri-"

_"Tifa, look after them! I'm going on ahead!"_ Squall's voice suddenly shouted.

He sounded a lot more alarmed and alert.

There was some muffled voices behind. Kairi could only assume it was Tifa responding.

_"I need to warn Ansem! The Castle has an intruder!"_

Kairi's heart almost stopped once she heard it. What did he mean "the Castle's has an intruder"?!

And then it dawned on her what he was implying.

Her eyes darted back to the chute.

"Oh boy..."

She lowered her phone and shouted back to Terra and Tidus, "Guys come on! We have to get down there!"

Tidus looked absolutely terrified by this. "W-What? You really want us to go in there?!"

Terra folded her arms around her chest, acting as squeamish as she was conflicted.

_"Kairi? Are you still there?" _

Kairi quickly put the Gummiphone to her ear. "What's happening?"

She could hear his footsteps as clear as day, and they were quick. He must be running now.

_"I'm heading on back to warn the others! Meanwhile I need you guys to continue pursuing that thief! Under no circumstance must he be able to reach the castle through the garbage basements!"_

Kairi nodded her head firmly, "Don't you worry Leon, we'll stop him!"

She hung up her Gummiphone quickly, unaware that Squall had spoken one last thing.

"Guys, this is a serious matter now. The main Castle is in danger!"

"Danger?" Tidus echoed while Terra diverted her gaze to the towering Castle overhead.

"Yes danger. And if we don't stop that thief, he could very well gain access to it!"

She stepped right over to the opening, fierce determination in her eyes. "Besides, what's an adventure if you can't get a little stinky?"

Before Tidus or Terra knew it, she jumped right into the chute.

Surprised, both teens raced over to it, just in the nick of time to see her form disappear into the inky darkness below.

Gulping down a lump in his throat, Tidus turned to Terra and asked, "You done something like this before?"

The girl meekly shook her head. Master Rinoa definitely didn't cover jumping into chutes during her training.

With a some what bewildered expression, Tidus let out a sigh before he stepped right over to the edge.

"I'm gonna regret this..." he moaned out.

Inhaling deeply, he took a leap of faith and jumped right in.

Terra almost covered her ears as they chimed as ferociously as the walls of the chutes from the loud, terrified scream escaping the blonde male's throat.

A second later, she stepped right over to the opening and took in a deep breath of her own. And then she jumped.

Almost instantly she felt all her insides doing somersaults as she began descending into the darkness at an alarming speed. The light from above slowly dimmed out, until she finally couldn't see anything. The experience was so terrifying, she swore she saw her life flash before her eyes.

And then before she knew it, she reached the bottom.

With a splash.

Instinctively, Terra began kicking her legs as she swam to the surface. Now _that_ one her Master covered quite extensively. She could never rely too much on her own flight abilities. She broke the surface and took in a large gasp of air. Air that was both putrid and vomit-inducing to her senses.

"Well, could've been worse I suppose..." Kairi's voice caught her attention.

The redhead was treading the surface just closeby, her body all soaked and covered in sewage and her wet hair was stuck to her skin like glue.

"Oh... gross..." Tidus wailed in disgust as he took stock of his surroundings, "Selphie'll never let me live this down..."

Kairi smiled teasingly at him, "She can't so that if she doesn't know about it, right?"

Tidus glowered at her, "She WILL! Eventually! And you're here too, aren't you? You're just gonna tell her the moment we meet up again!"

Kairi actually had the gall to look innocent, "Maybe... maybe not... Who knows...?"

Tidus found absolutely no comfort in her words.

Her attention turned to their location, Kairi could see that they could go two ways. Either ahead or behind. It was definitely hard to tell seeing as the thief was nowhere in sight.

"Hmm... this might take a while..." she mused worriedly.

Tidus raised an eyebrow, "You don't which way is the Castle?"

Kairi frowned at him, "I haven't exactly been re-accustomed to this place for a long time, alright? Give me a minute."

"The Castle is in that direction," Terra suddenly pointed with a finger.

The other two simply looked at her in confusion. To this, the apprentice merely gestured over to a nearby sign on the wall.

There was an arrow on it and above bore the word "CASTLE".

Tidus blinked, "That's... oddly convenient..."

"Sharp eyes Terra," Kairi commended admirably, "Come on, let's get going!"

She started swimming onwards into the sewer tunnel.

Tidus shared a brief glance with Terra before they both began to follow after her.

* * *

**Tidus: So uh... is he coming to or something?**

**(Everyone has gathered around the unresponsive author)**

**Kairi: How hard did you kick the ball, Tidus?**

**Tidus: Slightly over-average...**

**Roxas: In terms of his standards...**

**(He is nursing his bandaged head)**

**Kairi: He's going to be out for a while.**

**Lea: And that, folks, is what happens when you try to demo the Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III close to bystanders...**

**Riku: Really? I thought he was doing Mark II all this while?**

**Tidus: I was, but the old man one-upped me so I had to-**

**(Someone arrives on set with the script in his hand)**

**Tony Stark: Hello? Mr Author? I'd like to ask you about this-**

**(Spots the unconscious author)****T**

**ony Stark: What the hell happened to him?**

**Lea: He did it!**

**(Points at Tidus, who grins nervously under the billionaire's stare)**

**Tidus: Heh heh... I can explain...**


	11. Chapter X

**A/N: HELLO EVERYBODY! It's been a while, hasn't it? Apologies if I took longer than usual for this one. Work piled up by a flippin' TON this past few weeks, which sort of forced me to put story-writing at the back of the line temporarily. But that load's off of my shoulders (for now), but alas time is an unpredictable beast, isn't it? Hopefully this one's enough to satisfy you, at least until I get the next one out.**

**Also, Tidus is still extremely sorry for the accident a few weeks back (rubs bandaged head), no hard feelings against him. Isn't that right man?**

**(Tidus is seen being tossed around like a beachball by three Iron Man suits at top speed)**

**Tidus: No hard feeeeeeeeliiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnngggggsssss!**

**(Lea and Roxas looks on in amusement and pity)**

**Lea: (chuckles) Serves 'im right for wasting that guy's time from his pals.**

**A/N: Ah well, let's just hope those suits run on battery.**

**(Both shared a heart laugh)**

**Tidus: (Now I know how being a blitzball feels like...)**

**A/N: (Rubs teary eyes) A-Anyways, I'll get Mr Stark to stop this soon, don't you worry folks. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

"I swear, slippers are so not meant for long distances!" Came the agitated grunts of Selphie.

Honestly, it hadn't been much of a surprise to see her lag behind after a short while of running. As tempting as it was to carry her on his bag and continue the pursuit, Lea didn't like the idea of adding physicality to his burden.

Maybe she really wasn't kidding about being a terrible runner after all. To be fair though, she hadn't complained once about her handicap.

"Oh man... This is why I hate marathons..."

Ah, there it was.

Lea forced himself against rolling his eyeballs.

He constantly darted around, his sight trained and honed in on any potential sightings of the thief. Thank goodness he still had his Assassin experience from his Organization days.

So far, there was nothing out of the ordinary except for a shopkeeper who screaming out for help-wait, hold on!

He immediately turned and sprinted in that direction.

Selphie moaned, "Couldn't you just wait up for me?"

Whether or not he heard her, Lea still headed on ahead, forcing the exhausted girl to slowly trudge over, hissing out breaths. As he approached the shop, he took in the sight of its appearance.

It was a mess. Correction, it was an _absolute_ mess.

The windows were smashed. Electrical appliances were trashed and ripped from their wiring and littered all over. And the most peculiar thing standing out of the haystack were the apparent signs of a struggle or a fight, evident by the brick walls that had slice marks etched into them.

The woman spotted him quickly and raced over. "Please! You have to stop them! They're causing a big mess all around the town!" she pleaded hurriedly.

"Ma'am please, calm down," Lea said slowly and calmly, "Could you tell me what happened here?"

"Well, I was inside, tending to my own business, when all of sudden those two crazy kids crashed right through my window!"

She pointed at the far-most right one.

Lea nodded his head and had his eyes trained astutely. "Keep going..."

"They told me not to panic, but how could I when they literally destroyed my window? And then that crazy girl from the Restoration Committee came in and started attacking them! I swear to the Gods, they need to screen their recruits better!"

_"Ah, a member from the Committee eh?"_ Lea thought to himself.

In all of his years here, he knew that there was only one person capable of wreaking havoc wherever she went. Heck, she was also his senior for Pete's sake!

Looking back to the distressed shopkeeper, he replied, "Thanks for the tip, ma'am. I'll see to it!"

She nodded, "Oh, and tell those idiots to put a tighter leash on that kid! One of these days she might actually become an endangerment to public property herself!"

She pointed in the direction she saw them head off in.

_"Oh you've no idea..." _Lea thought before he took off.

It was at point that Selphie finally caught to him and she was about to stop and catch her breath.

Only to see him run off again.

She sighed, "I think I need to lie down after this..."

She started running after him again, ignoring her burning lungs that were protesting the exertion of her limits.

They ran and ran, pass multiple shophouses that also wore the same scars as the first one.

"A trail of bread crumbs..." Lea mused, his eyes darting all about for any sign of trouble.

Thankfully though, he also remembered that Selphie was with him, and he took short pauses to allow her to catch up. Eventually though, the teen looked like she was about to pass out, which made the redhead frown a little.

"Quick question: when was the last time you actually took a jog?" he asked.

Selphie had bent over and laid her hands on her knees. "School... fitness... test..." she panted out breathlessly.

"And when was that?"

She looked up and grinned sheepishly. "Few months... back...?"

Of course... In times like this, Lea would've almost been tempted to become exasperated, but he wouldn't complain with this one. This was clearly her first time doing a mission that required a lot of stamina and high fitness level. He would have to treat her like he would treat a newbie in the former Organization.

He gestured for her to climb on his back, and her eyes lit up. With a last burst of energy, she eagerly leapt onto his back and clasped her arms tightly around his chest. It took her an insane amount of concentration not to ogle at how hard his muscles were.

Ensuring that she was properly comfortable, Lea began running again.

They carried on for another 10 minutes or so, and Selphie wondered in awe how he hadn't become exhausted yet. And then suddenly, they heard another scream coming from nearby. This time though accompanied by "GYAAAAAHHHH! SOMEBODY HELP! GET THIS CRAZY WOMAN AWAY FROM US!"

"You hear that?" Selphie asked.

Lea hummed back, "It came from over there."

They headed straight for one of the back alleys, and finally they came to a stop. They watched as two male teens were atop a pile of barrels stacked against the wall. Cornered by one fuming ninja woman who was threatening them with her shuriken.

"HEEELLLLPPPP!" One of them screamed in absolute terror.

Eyes widened like saucers, Selphie exclaimed, "We gotta help them!"

"Right..." Lea muttered.

Clearly she didn't catch wind of the woman's words earlier.

Setting the teen down, he marched straight for Yuffie, who was still yelling her head off like a madwoman.

"IF YOU DON'T COME DOWN HERE IN THE NEXT FEW SECONDS, I SWEAR I'LL-"

There was a tap on her shoulder.

She spun around and pointed her shuriken at the person's neck. "Move along pal! This is a restricted area by my say so! And believe me when I say that-wait half a sec, you look oddly familiar..."

Yuffie lowered her weapon and stared at him. "Hmm... just can't put my finger on it..."

Seeing that she was distracted, Selphie signaled the cornered teens with a hand wave. Their thumbs raised up, the boys quickly scrambled their way down the pile of barrels before proceeding to race past Yuffie.

"Thanks Miss!" one of them shouted back, unable to believe his luck as he disappeared from sight with his friend.

Hearing his voice snapped Yuffie out of her inspection. Her eyes scanned the pile of barrels, only to see that her targets had disappeared. And then she looked over to Selphie.

Realisation dawned on her.

With a cry of frustration, Yuffie marched right over to the teen.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she demanded heatedly, "Did you EVEN realise what you just did?!"

Selphie, feeling small next to the tirading woman, meekly stuttered, "U-Um... I..."

etting out another huff, Yuffie turned and started running off again.

Poor Selphie simply stared on at her, rattled by that encounter, while Lea slowly walked right over to her.

"Clearly there's lots of things you need to learn about adventuring, kid." He stated plainly, a disapproving frown on his face.

Selphie was confused, "B-But... I thought that..."

Lea sighed, "C'mon, we gotta get after 'em."

Selphie quickly climbed on his back and they set off again. This time though, they were able to keep an even pace with Yuffie as she continued sprinting across the town. They witnessed her barreling through every shop, every person, and she didn't even stop to give them all a second glance. The entire district became a total mess, much to the horror of the civilians.

"Is she always like this?" Selphie asked Lea meekly as she saw some of them start to yell profanities.

The redhead shrugged, "Today and every other Mondays. She always hates 'em."

Why the Committee gave her much free reign over her daily shenanigans, was something he would have to address at a later date.

They raced on and on, until they finally reached an area familiar to Lea.

"Well well, looks like its the Fountain Courts."

Selphie viewed the area with a somewhat disgusted look. _This_ was the place of fountains?

"Ugh... this place reeks of muck and other stuff..." she grimaced, watching tons of murky water pour onto the ground.

Well, Lea couldn't argue with her there. "Eh, this place's seen better days I guess."

"GET BACK HERE!" Yuffie's voice hollered out.

The duo looked up to the top most column, where they saw the ninja speeding off right through another entryway.

Selphie blinked, "How did she get up there that fast?"

Lea smirked, "Simple."

He turned around and eyed the fountains.

A lightbulb went off in his head.

* * *

**_Seconds later..._**

"Aw... yuck..." Selphie mumbled, "I hate grimy stuff..."

Her body was completely drenched with dirty water and other things she didn't even want to think about.

Lea eyed her with slight amusement as he kept moving, "Y'know kiddo, if you're gonna complain about every single thing, then you're just ruining the fun for everybody else."

Selphie scoffed, "I don't recall ever having to get myself dirty on an adventure."

Lea raised a brow, "Oh really? Who told you that?"

"Like, _EVERY _adventure movie ever created in the history of cinema?"

He resisted the urge to free one arm and facepalm. Someone really needs to give her a couple lessons on attention to detail.

"Hopefully Kairi's having a better time than I am..."

* * *

"WAAAHHH!" Kairi, Tidus and Terra screamed out as they slid down an extremely gross and slimy pathway in the sewers.

"Oh man! I think I'm gonna puke!" Tidus yelled.

Kairi fought against the green forming on her cheeks. "I knew going in this direction was a bad idea!"

"Honestly, I hope that thief is having it as worse as us!"

"And I hope Leon gives us a medal once we catch him!"

Terra on the other hand, accidentally caught some of the slime in her mouth and she tried to cough it out without vomitting.

* * *

_"... Hopefully..." _Lea added mentally as he reached the entryway.

Departing the courts, they zipped their way through a hall that slinked around like a snake, until they arrived out the other end. Here they've found themselves in what appeared to be a complex of pipe systems.

"Well well! The Aqueducts still looks in tip top shape," Lea commented with a whistle.

At least this place looked more decent and clean in comparison.

Selphie scanned the narrowed path, "Where'd they go?"

Lea stared right ahead, noting that there was no one else here besides them.

If they were not here then it stood to reason that the trio were well ahead of them.

Truth be told, if there was one thing he admired about Yuffie, it was that her speed and stamina records were off the charts. It was like she was running on an endless supply of gas in the tank.

They carried on with their pursuit, heading deeper into the complex itself.

* * *

"I'm telling you, we should've taken a left back there!" the third thief snapped at his associate-in-crime. So far, he had been going along with just his partner's gut instincts. The place felt like some twisted, mechanical maze. And his partner's constant assurances of "Trust me!" weren't doing much to assure him.

"Trust me!"

Ah, there goes another one...

"I know what I'm doing! We'll be outta here in a jiffy!"

"And what I know's that you're just leading us in circles!" the third thief stated heatedly, "I think we've passed that pipe twelve times now!"

"Pfft! That's what all they all look like, don't they?"

There was a pause.

"Y'know, I think it was five times."

"Where'd you go?!" Yuffie's voice shrieked from not too far away, "I'm gonna find you!"

Eyes widening like saucers, the second thief frantically darted his eyes about.

"Quick! Back here!" he said and hastily led his partner behind one of the big barrels.

Huddled together, they watched anxiously as Yuffie bolted in seconds later. Her boots screeching to a halt, she surveyed the area.

"Wait a sec... I could've sworn they came through this way..." she muttered with a tap of her chin. With an furstrated huff, she took off again.

Once the footsteps faded into the silent background, the thieves let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew! That was a close one," the second thief muttered as he stepped out from the barrel.

He grinned at his partner, "Guess we oughta be lucky she's not a bright one, eh?"

The third partner rose to his feet, "Well, we should be lucky she hadn't considered calling in security."

His partner nodded, "Agreed. A shame though. She's quite pretty, don't you think?"

"I... guess so? B-But that's not the point now." He sent a pointed glare at his partner. "When I came here with you guys from Dalmasca, you promised that the score'll be worth my time. All I've been doing thus far is running from some mad woman that we ambushed!"

The second thief sighed deeply and leaned his arms against the barrel. "You don't recognise a strategy when you see it, don't you?"

"Hey, don't pull that on me! You said yourself that Zidane made a miscalculation that time, didn't you? Not to mention that he said that "we'll be done with this before the authorities even realise it"!"

The second thief stared at his partner with a scrutinizing gaze. "How long have you been a thief, Vaan?" he questioned.

"Two years now."

"And how many acts have you pulled off in that duration?"

"A couple dozen."

"Elaborate."

This time Vaan hesitated.

"W-Well, some petty thefts, stealing bread from Archadian guards and soldiers."

The second thief pondered over this. "Mmmhmm... I think I see the problem."

He leaned closer, "You're just a novice."

Vaan choked back a gasp, "W-What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Two years in this profession and you're only good at stealing loaves of bread? I think there's something wrong here," the thief stated plainly, "When I started out, I was already out there exploring the world and doing contracts for munny. I also had Boko, but that's beside the point."

Vaan glared at him, "Unlike you, I had to grow up in a society where my own home was being ruled over by an invading empire. Heck, I lost my own brother in their moment of victory! Besides, I had to be the older brother for all the kids who became orphaned because of Archadia! Of course you wouldn't understand that since you're a wanderer. Right Bartz?"

An unreadable expression crossed Bartz's features for a few seconds before he replied, "Well... no arguing with that point, but here's the thing. Thievery is all the same, whether you're fighting for a noble cause or for your own benefit. It's part of who we are. It's in our blood. Part of our trade. And if you want to be a damned good one, then you need to have that drive, that passion, to go all out and risk everything you hold dear, even your own life, and also those kids in your case."

He winked at Vaan, "Besides, that's why you came to me and Zidane in the first place, right?"

Vaan stared silently at the ground. Deep down, he knew that he was right.

Bartz adopted a more lazed posture and stared up at the ceiling.

"Look, I understand that Zidane can get carried away sometimes. I mean, he's been at this gig far longer than the two of us combined. Being part of a circus trope, pulling off huge scores... But that's what makes him the best. He knows how it all works. All the ins and outs, the pros and cons, _everything_. That's why I trust him."

Pushing himself away from the barrel, Bartz turned back to Vaan.

"If Zidane's got a plan that's guranteed to succeed, he will get it done. But to do that, he needs not only me, but you too Vaan. After all, that's what heists are all about right?"

He stretched out his hand to him. "What do you say, partner? Ready to tear the house down?"

Vaan stared at his hand for a brief while before he started reaching out with his own to take it...

**_"SNEAK ATTACK!"_ **

Both thieves founded themselves tackled to the ground by a force of speed, and with their backs planted against the floor, they came face-to-face with a triumphant-looking ninja.

"Hah! Thought you could pull a fast one on me, huh? Hiding behind a barrel?" Yuffie taunted with a grin as she held them both down with her arms.

Bartz and Vaan struggled against their captor, no matter how futile it was.

Yuffie simply watched them with absolute glee. Finally she had caught them! Hah! Finally Squall will shut up about her not being competent enough to do serious missions once she brings these two back to him!

But then begs the questions... how _was_ she going to bring these two back to him?

Thankfully she didn't have to think long.

The sounds of running feet signalled the arrival of Lea and Selphie, as they finally caught up with the three. After setting down the female teen, the redhead walked right over to Yuffie and folded his arms.

"There you two are!" she snapped as if she truly was waiting for them, "Fat lot of time you took!"

Lea's neutral expression never changed the slightly.

"Need some help?" he asked lamely.

"Uh DUH...!"

Forcing the temptation to roll his eyes, Lea knelt down and took over the restraining of Vaan.

"Hey, let me go!" the pale blonde teen demanded, "Do you know who I am?!"

Lea stared at him, "Your pleas are pretty much invalid the moment you got caught, buddy. How's about you just-"

Yuffie almost pushed him to the side as she got right in his face.

"Who're you? Talk," she growled.

It was supposed be threatening, Lea noted, but she was doing fairly poorly considering the stare the other thief was directing at her.

Vaan glared daggers right into her eyes. "I'm Captain Basch!"

The silence that followed was so quiet, Selphie swore she heard an actual cricket nearby.

Keeping her eyes on him, Yuffie whispered to Lea, "Do you know a Captain Basch 'round here?"

Lea sighed and looked back at the teen thief. "Nice try kid."

Vaan felt defeated as he was hauled up to his feet alongside Bartz.

"Told you it wouldn't work," the latter said.

Vaan glared at him, "At least I'm not going to suffer much out of it. Unlike Zidane."

"Well at least I hope he managed to find his way into that castle and-whoa hey, what gives?!"

Bartz was forcefully tugged until he came face-to-face with Yuffie.

"What did you just say?" the ninja questioned, a growing look of worry on her face.

Bartz gulped down, realising he may have just screwed Zidane. "U-Um... I hope that the castle dungeon food is manageable...?"

If Vaan could palm his face right now, he would.

Yuffie looked absolutely alarmed.

"You there! Take care of him!"

Selphie had little time to react before Bartz was shoved forcefully her way.

Before either she or Lea could react, Yuffie pulled out a smoke bomb and cried out, "YUFFIE OUT!" She hurled it onto the ground and it exploded into a puff of smoke all around her. When it cleared a few seconds later, she had disappeared.

Everyone simply stared at the space where the ninja had stood, unsure what to make of it.

"That... happened..." Bartz commented awkwardly.

Lea slowly nodded, "You have no idea..."

After a few more moments of staring, he looked back to the two thieves, remembering why he and Selphie were here for.

"Alright you two, let's get going." He began tugging a defeated Vaan along, and Selphie did the same with Bartz before he could even contemplate an escape attempt.

She held back any emotions she had as her hands wrapped around his bicep.

Wow... it felt _really_ hard...

Bartz seemed to have the same reaction, but he was not like her in one aspect.

"Wow, your hands are soft," he remarked.

Selphie bit her lip, if only to stop herself with smiling. But that didn't stop the bit of red that coloured her cheeks. Whether the thief saw it or not, he didn't comment about it.

"By the way, what happened to your hair? Had a bad run-in with a chocobo?" Selphie halted in her tracks and stared at him.

There was a sigh from up in front.

"You always associate everything with chocobos, don't you?" Vaan asked his partner exasperated.

Bartz shot daggers at him, seemingly offended, "You got a problem with chocobos?"

"I'm just wondering why you always keep reffering to them like they're the center of the universe."

"They ARE the center of the universe!"

"_Your__s_ at least."

As the two kept bickering, Lea rubbed his temples.

"Oy vey, this is gonna be a long walk back..."

* * *

**A/N: Apologies if THAT certain line (fans of FFXII will know it) was a bit too much. I just... couldn't help myself hahah!**


End file.
